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Story: Citizenship

A sovereign Māori nation?

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A sovereign Māori nation?

In 2000 and 2001 a group calling itself the Māori Government of Aotearoa created a stir by selling citizenship documents and driver’s licences to often unsuspecting recent arrivals in New Zealand. Though the legality of their actions was refuted, they based their right to issue the documents on Māori claims to self-government. The car of their minister of immigration, Dan Davis, is pictured.

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New Zealand Herald

Reference: 17 January 2000

by Peter Meecham

Permission of the New Zealand Herald must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

David Green, Citizenship – Becoming a citizen, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/1074/a-sovereign-maori-nation (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by David Green, published 4 March 2009.