New Zealand’s Parliament has voted down the Treaty Principles Bill, which aimed to redefine the rights held by Māori under the country’s founding document.
Introduced by the right-wing party ACT, the bill would have abolished measures to support Māori civil rights that were not granted through a legal settlement of a treaty claim. It was strongly criticised by the New Zealand government’s Waitangi Tribunal commission, which said the bill deliberately did not consult Māori authorities and did not reflect the treaty’s meaning.
While ACT proposed the bill, all members from its coalition partners National and New Zealand First voted against it. “I am proud that my party has had the bravery, the clarity and the patriotism to raise uneasy topics, and I challenge other parties to find those qualities in themselves and support this bill,” ACT leader David Seymour said before the vote.
“No member of this House simply gets to wipe all of those 185 years of history away to suit their own purposes because Te Tiriti o Waitangi [The Treaty of Waitangi] is not just history, it's not just ink on a paper. It's a living promise,” said leader of the opposition Labour party Chris Hipkins. “This bill will forever be a stain on our country.”
The Treaty of Waitangi, signed in 1840, gave the British Crown political sovereignty over New Zealand while affirming the rights of Māori iwi to their lands. ACT has argued that current interpretations of the Treaty of Waitangi have provided Māori with additional legal privileges.
“Treaty rights are not special privileges or even extra rights,” said Labour MP Willie Jackson. “They are rights that were in place before the Treaty of Waitangi was signed — the treaty simply reaffirms those rights.” Jackson was then ordered to leave the chamber by National MP and Speaker Gerry Brownlee during the bill’s second reading, after he refused to withdraw a comment referring to Seymour as “a liar”.
ACT’s 11 members of Parliament voted in favour of the bill, with all 112 other MPs opposing the motion. Several MPs began singing the Māori song “Tūtira Mai Ngā Iwi” after the vote was complete.
Prime Minister and National party leader Chris Luxon agreed to support the bill during its initial readings as part of its coalition agreement with ACT, though Luxon had said National’s MPs would oppose it during the final vote.
New Zealand’s Parliament’s Justice Committee recommended that the bill be scrapped last week, after a series of hearings. More than 300,000 written submissions were offered on the Treaty Principles Bill from New Zealand’s public, with 90% against the legislation, according to the committee.
The country’s largest ever protest in favour of Māori civil rights was also held in front of Parliament in November amid debate over the bill, with police reporting 42,000 attendees.
Related content
