The Government will introduce the controversial Treaty Principles Bill this Thursday, Acting Leader of the House Simeon Brown has confirmed to 1News.
It comes ahead of a national hīkoi opposing the Bill next week. The Bill was originally set to be introduced on November 18.
The Waitangi Tribunal alerted lawyers to the development today, and has released the second part of its interim report into the Treaty Principles Bill to ensure it can be received by parties prior to the Bill being introduced to the House.
Brown confirmed the Bill has gone before Cabinet.
In its first report following an inquiry in May, the Waitangi Tribunal found the Bill would effectively rewrite the Treaty of Waitangi.
It also said it was a solution to a problem that did no exist and little more than a “politically motivated attack on perceived Māori privilege”.
Cabinet released more details about the proposed principles in September, prompting a second hearing by the Tribunal last month.
The latest report, based on the second hearing, was just as scathing.
“We found that if this Bill were to be enacted, it would be the worst, most comprehensive breach of the Te Tiriti in modern times,” it read.
“If the Bill remained on the statute book for a considerable time or was never repealed, it could mean the end of the Treaty.”
The new report said if the Bill progressed, the damage to the Māori Crown relationship would be profound.
“Underlying the significant change across all statutory regimes that affect Māori, the Bill would end the Treaty partnership and any formal relationship between the Crown and Māori.
“At present, the progressing of the Bill is having serious impacts on the relationship but the Bill if enacted would kill that relationship. This is deliberate.”
Meanwhile, plans are well underway for a nine-day hīkoi, set to kick off on Monday next week.
It will begin from the top of the North Island and journey through major towns and cities including Auckland, Whangārei, Hamilton, Rotorua, Hastings, and Palmerston North.
It was supposed to arrive at Parliament just in time for the introduction of the Bill.
Waitangi Tribunal ‘has broken the Government’s trust again’ – Seymour
The minister responsible for the Bill, David Seymour, told 1News the Tribunal “has broken the Government’s trust again” after alerting lawyers to the development.
“I only received a copy of the Waitangi Tribunal’s report this evening, so I can’t comment on its contents yet,” Seymour said in a statement this evening.
“It’s a shame that the Waitangi Tribunal has broken the Government’s trust again. It demands information from the Government, such as the date the Treaty Principles Bill is to be introduced to Parliament, but the information becomes public within hours of them knowing. Respect should go both ways.”
Seymour added that the Bill “provides an opportunity for New Zealanders — rather than the courts and the Waitangi Tribunal — to have a say on what the Treaty means”.
“Did the Treaty give different rights to different groups, or does every citizen have equal rights? I believe all New Zealanders deserve to have a say on that question.”
Green Party calls on Luxon to ‘abandon the Bill’
The Green Party is urgently calling on Prime Minister Christopher Luxon to “abandon” the Treaty Principles Bill and “honour Te Tiriti”.
“It’s not too late to do the right thing, Christopher. It’s time to abandon this Bill and honour Te Tiriti,” the party’s Justice spokesperson Tamatha Paul said in a statement this evening.
“Te Tiriti forms the founding agreement Aotearoa was built upon. It provides the foundations for an enduring relationship between tangata whenua and tangata Tiriti that ensures everybody is looked after and nobody is left behind.
“Te Tiriti is permanent, Governments are temporary. Honouring the Treaty has to come before the honouring of coalition agreements.”
Paul noted how Luxon had spoken at Waitangi about the significance of Te Tiriti, as well as the importance of kotahitanga at the tangi of Kiingi Tūheitia.
“If his words are actually worth anything, he would not allow legislation that aims to completely corrupt and defile the defining essence of our nation anywhere near our Parliament,” she said.
“He has stood by and watched as Treaty protections were removed from state care, as the Māori Health Authority was scrapped and as Māori wards were essentially erased.”
Paul continued: “The Prime Minister has two choices: abandon the Bill and honour our founding agreement or unleash a level of division and disharmony that will cut to the very core of our country.
“We call on the Prime Minister to do the right thing and uphold the dignity, meaning and integrity of our founding agreement.”
National and New Zealand First have previously stated they would not support the Bill beyond its first reading.
