Justice Committee to decide on extension to Treaty bill submissions

Thursday, 9 January 2025

Tens of thousands of people took part in a hīkoi last year to unify Māori and oppose the Treaty Principles Bill, while a similar number are expected to have submitted on the bill. (File photo)

Lance Lavery’s submission on the Treaty Principles Bill includes an introduction, a critical analysis and the historical context of the treaty principles, consequences to the bill, counter arguments to it, recommendations and a conclusion.

But when he went to submit it before midnight on Tuesday, he kept getting a persistent error message and 11.59pm came and went with his submission unheard.

He requested an extension to the deadline. The 'unforeseen technical glitches” hindered his ability to exercise his rights, he said.

Lavery believed at 45 years old, the controversial bill was “the biggest issue” he had encountered in his lifetime and it was important to be able to voice his “unequivocal opposition” against it – which in his eyes, threatened part of Aotearoa’s constitution.

“The bill threatens to undermine the Treaty of Waitangi’s status as a living partnership document and a cornerstone of New Zealand’s constitutional framework.”

Lavery was among, reportedly, hundreds of people who were unable to make their submission due to technical issues on the Parliament website submission portal.

An “unprecedented number of submissions” caused error messages “or other issues” to come up for some submitters Dr David Wilson, Clerk of the House of Representatives said.

But the site never crashed and no submissions were lost, he said.

An exact number of submissions would not be released until they had been presented to the committee, Wilson said.

ACT Party leader David Seymour is the architect of the Treaty Principles Bill and says tens of thousands of New Zealanders used the party’s submission tool. (File photo)

The Justice Committee would decide on Thursday morning when it met to discuss the bill, whether to extend the deadline.

ACT party leader David Seymour said “tens of thousands of New Zealanders” had made submissions through the party submission tool.

“Thousands more made submissions directly through Parliament’s website, contributing thoughtful and compelling arguments,” he said.

Seymour’s bill was agreed to be brought to the select committee under its coalition agreement with National.

The controversial bill aims to hold a referendum on changing how the Treaty is applied across Government and law through a rewrite of the “Treaty principles”, which have developed over decades to translate the 1840 treaty between the Crown and Māori into the modern constitutional setting.

The party had made a submission supporting the bill, which stood for “universal suffrage and equality before the law”, Seymour said.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon reiterated his Government would not be supporting the bill past the first reading, regardless of the outcome of the submissions.

Crowds spilled out around Parliament as a hikoi protesting David Seymour's Treaty Principles Bill reached Wellington, with thousands of people making their voices heard loud and clear. Jenna Lynch reports.

Te Pāti Māori, the Green Party and the Labour Party called for an extension to the deadline on Wednesday.

Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, co-leader of Te Pāti Māori, said she was copied into more than 500 emails to the committee with their submissions and requesting an extension, late into Tuesday evening, because they were unable to submit through the website.

Te Pāti Māori staff were busy trying to get as many physical copies printed, picked up and dropped off to Parliament before the 5pm deadline for physical copies on Wednesday.

The Green Party said it had received reports in the weeks leading to the deadline, that people had technical difficulties with the submissions portal.

It called for an extension but ultimately, for the Committee and Parliament to abandon the bill.

Hāpai Te Hauora, Māori public health, made 10,596 submissions online before delivering 10,000 physical copies to Parliament from Auckland on Wednesday.

Victorua University of Wellington associate professor of law Dean Knight made a physical submission after spending two hours unsuccessfully trying to submit it online due to IT issues in the system. (File photo)

Dr Dean Knight, a law professor at Victoria University, also made his submission in a physical copy on Wednesday after spending two hours the night before, unsuccessfully, trying to submit it online.

“I have no doubt that the committee will properly extend the period of submissions, because it's utterly inconceivable that they wouldn't, given that the inability for people to submit was of their creation – of Parliament's fault.“

His concern was the impact the technical glitch might have on people’s confidence or willingness to engage with democratic processes in the future.

Among other submitters were Lynne Harata Te Aika (Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Awa, Te Whānau ā Apanui) and more than 100 other Māori language learners who were at a kura reo at Arowhenua Marae.

On Monday, they wrote and lodged submissions against the bill.

“We’ve battled for so long to get our language back … If te reo is not given status and mana, it can be eradicated by the stroke of a pen or the decision of one person.

“My fear if the bill went through is that all our rights will be lost as Māori, as iwi, and in particular our language, culture and identity.”

Anania Tawhi sent a last-minute email to his colleagues on Monday reminding them if they wanted to submit on the bill, now was the time.

Tylah Farani-Watene made a submission opposing the bill to protect Te Tiriti which played an important part in her life as a Māori and Pasifika young person. (File photo)

He lodged his submission last week for the next generations, and generations to come.

Tawhi, who is the cultural lead for Housing First Ōtautahi, said he didnot usually submit on issues at central government level.

“I try not to focus too hard on that [politics], usually my mahi keeps me busy, but when it affects our people in terms of Māori then you focus more.”

For Tylah Farani-Watene, her submission centred on her identities as Māori and Pasifika, reflecting on what Te Tiriti had done for her life and its importance, therefore opposing the bill.

It made her feel driven to encourage others to make submissions, particularly because of the impact Te Pāti Māori MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke’s haka in Parliament had globally.

“I felt quite nervous, because, awesome that people came to the hīkoi, awesome people were sharing the videos they saw in Parliament, [but] now we actually need to put all of that aroha from those spaces into action through these submissions.”

Hobson’s Pledge welcomed the scale of public engagement with the bill but said the submission system failing at the last hour was “concerning”.

An extension to the deadline would be appropriate, it said.

“That so many people have submitted on the bill shows how important it is and the committee needs to engage with what people are saying and not seek to railroad the conversation for the sake of expedience.”

It called for more avenues to make submissions and that the committee ensured appropriate time to work through them.