Dead-end Treaty Principles Bill to be debated in the House
Thursday, 14 November 2024
The almost sure-to-fail Treaty Principles Bill will be debated in the House, days out from a protest hīkoi reaching Parliament grounds next week.
Opposition to the bill also reached the prime minister and attorney general yesterday, by way of a letter signed by 42 prominent kings counsel - shared with media last night - that said the group had “grave concerns” about it and called on Luxon to abandon it.
Said the letter, “The coalition government’s Treaty Principles Bill seeks to redefine in law the meaning of te Tiriti, by replacing the existing “Treaty Principles” with new Treaty Principles which are said to reflect the three articles of te Tiriti. The problem is that they do not. By imposing a contested definition of the three articles, the Bill seeks to rewrite the Treaty itself.
“[The bill] would have the effect of unilaterally changing the meaning of te Tiriti and its effect in law, without the agreement of Māori as the Treaty partner.”
As the hīkoi protesting the controversial bill passes through Waikato, MPs will debate the bill and the prospect of a referendum on the Treaty of Waitangi before the Government votes the ACT Party bill through.
Then, after six months of public consultation by a parliamentary select committee, the bill is almost sure to fail as the National Party and NZ First withdraw their support at the second reading.
“We'll be voting it down, and that's our position, and we'll continue with it,” said Prime Minister Christopher Luxon about the future of the bill, on Wednesday afternoon.
Luxon will not be in the House for the bill’s reading on Thursday, instead travelling to Peru for an Apec meeting.
Despite Luxon’s insistence, ACT Party leader David Seymour remains optimistic the Treaty Principles Bill would live on.
“I look at something like homosexual law reform, first started in the early 70s. People said, 'Oh, why are you doing that? Waste of time. Focus on the economy'. You know, 15 years later, it became legal and we never think about going back.
“ACT is a party that will take on hard issues and often like three strikes, like charter schools, give it a few years, and the National Party says, ‘Best thing we ever thought of’.”
While Labour had joined the call to “kill the bill”, Seymour said he was urging people to “read the bill”.
“I don't think the people who are protesting can explain what it is that they're opposed to. They like to say that this is going to take away the Māori language and culture. There's not a chance. There's no way it can do that.”
The 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.
But the ACT Party has been accused of trying to rewrite the Treaty out of existence through the bill’s proposed redefinition of the Treaty principles.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins said the bill was “not New Zealand” and would be “going backwards”.
“We've made a lot of progress on resolving past issues around the Treaty and breaches of the Treaty.
“Christopher Luxon said before the election the National Party would not support this bill. They are now supporting it. I think that he should front up directly to people and explain why.”
Hipkins said he would be speaking to, or possibly joining, the hīkoi when it reached Wellington next week.
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa Packer, whose party has been heavily involved in the hīkoi, said her party was “absolutely opposed to any tinkering of Te Tiriti”.
She said Seymour was “a politician from a very, very small party trying to relegate tangata whenua to a non-existent state”.
What are the Treaty principles?
The Government’s current 1989 Treaty principles are:
The Government has the right to govern and make laws.
Iwi have the right to organise as iwi to control resources.
All New Zealanders are equal before the law.
Government and iwi are obliged to co-operate on major issues of common concern.
The Government is responsible for providing an effective resolution process for Treaty grievances.
ACT’s bill would change this to three principles:
The Government has power to govern in the best interests of everyone, in accordance with the rule of law and the maintenance of a free and democratic society.
The Crown will respect and protect the rights of Māori under the Treaty as of 1840, and those rights will only differ from the rights of everyone if agreed in a Treaty settlement.
Everyone is equal before the law and is entitled without discrimination to the protection and benefit of the law, and the enjoyment of the same human rights.