Pakeha Treaty Action (Auckland) records.

Pakeha Treaty Action (PTA) was created by Tim McCreanor, Kevin Hague and Helen Yensen in 1987.

The initial motivations behind the group’s formation were the concern that new legislation lacked consideration of the Treaty of Waitangi, and the need for a Pakeha lobby group to work towards Maori/Pakeha partnership on political and Treaty issues. To this end, PTA became involved in writing parliamentary submissions and delivering oral presentations to select committees. Additionally, background material was disseminated to a mailing list of interested persons and other publications.

In 1989, Honouring the Treaty: an Introduction for Pakeha to the Treaty of Waitangi was published by Penguin. This short collection of essays was edited by McCreanor, Hague and Yensen and included contributions by Jane Kelsey, Mitzi Nairn and David Williams. It became a useful primer for Treaty educators, and as a result of its publication PTA received requests to deliver seminars and workshops to interested groups. In particular, PTA developed a three-year course for postgraduate students in psychology at the University of Auckland on the implications of the Treaty in clinical psychology. Two graduates of this programme, Margaretanne Roger and Katherine Findlay, joined the three founders of the PTA in the early 1990s, and the initiative was later expanded to the University of Waikato.

Another major educational initiative was the training of Pakeha clinical psychologists within the Department of Corrections. Throughout the 1990s, PTA also continued its lobbying efforts, in particular maintaining an extended correspondence with members of the National Government concerning Treaty and Maori sovereignty issues.

Seminars and workshops were generally conducted on a koha basis; however, PTA was paid for its work at the Universities of Auckland and Waikato. Most of this money, as well as the royalties from Honouring the Treaty, were donated to various Maori organizations and initiatives. PTA maintained links with organizations such as Network and Project Waitangi, occasionally combining with them in presenting workshops.

By 1998 the five key PTA activists were heavily occupied with other work commitments, and these all involved aspects of Treaty work in themselves. Helen Yensen continued to represent the group at conferences and with other Treaty education organizations, but PTA as a separate entity faded.