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The State Owned Enterprises Act was a key piece of legislation to incorporate a reference to the Treaty. Since then, more than 40 statutes have referred (with varying degrees of emphasis) to the principles of the Treaty, in relation to the purpose of the legislation. From this the Courts have been able to determine whether the principles are being appropriately applied. This has given the Treaty far-reaching recognition in national and local government. Supported by a Waitangi Tribunal report on te reo Māori, the Māori language has also gained greater authority and usage.

A landmark Court of Appeal case (Māori Council v Attorney-General) established that the Crown must pay heed to previous Māori ownership in disposal of surplus Crown assets such as land. This followed the break-up of old land-holding departments and the establishment of new state-owned enterprises under the 1986 State Owned Enterprises Act. That Act declared that the Crown might do nothing 'that is inconsistent with the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi'. The Court set out a number of principles it saw encapsulated in or derived from the Treaty. Perhaps the key principle was that of partnership, since the Treaty had been signed by two partners. Another was that the Crown, as the more powerful partner, has a duty of active protection of the interests of the weaker partner, Māori.

In the mid-1980s, in response to rising protests, the official role in celebrating 6 February at Waitangi had been minimised, and in 1988, it was suspended altogether. For the sesquicentennial year since the Treaty signing, official participation returned to Waitangi. Public focus and awareness was on issues surrounding ownership and control of Māori resources as well as partnership between the tangata whenua (Māori) and tangata tiriti (Pākehā, the people of the Treaty).

A comprehensive Treaty settlement on commercial fisheries was signed, vesting $170 million with the Waitangi Fisheries Commission to enable it to buy 50 percent of Sealord Products Ltd, a large, Nelson-based fishing company. But the allocation of the fishery resource and proceeds has since caused much disagreement among Māori, particularly between coastal and inland tribes, traditional iwi and newer urban authorities, and the allocation issue remains unresolved more than a decade later. Major settlements were subsequently signed with Tainui in 1995 and Ngāi Tahu in 1998, each at an estimated total value of $170 m.

After a great deal of discussion, led largely by the New Zealand Māori Council, a completely new act regulating Māori land was passed. Under Te Ture Whenua Māori it is now very difficult to purchase remaining Māori land. The Act also seeks to overcome the problems of fragmentation of titles among multiple owners by providing for various kinds of trust under which the land can be managed.

On 28 April a Department of Conservation viewing platform built over a cliff at Cave Creek in the West Coast’s Paparoa National Park collapsed, killing 14 people.

The Office of Treaty Settlements (OTS) was formed from the previous Treaty of Waitangi Policy Unit (TOWPU). OTS conducts negotiations with Māori claimants on levels of remedy for past breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi. Treaty breaches need to be proven but not necessarily through a Waitangi Tribunal hearing.

A series of protests in the mid-1990s denoted a new phase of activism on land and Treaty issues. Many were generated in response to the government's proposal to limit the monetary value of Treaty settlements to one billion dollars over ten years, the so-called 'fiscal envelope'. A series of hui around the country graphically illustrated the breadth and depth of Māori rejection of such a limitation in advance of the extent of claims being fully known and much of the policy package, especially the fiscal cap, was subsequently dropped. These protests included occupation of Wanganui's Moutoa Gardens (twice) and the Takahue school in Northland (leading to its destruction by fire). Symbolic acts included attacking Victorian statuary, the America's Cup and the lone pine on One Tree Hill and removing a Colin McCahon painting (subsequently returned) from the Lake Waikaremoana Visitor Centre. Rising protests at the Waitangi Day celebrations led the government to move the official observance to Government House in Wellington.

New Zealand’s new national museum, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, officially opened on Wellington’s waterfront, completing a decade of planning and construction.