Luxon confirms Treaty bill will fail

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Opinion

Fresh from facing the music at Waitangi — most notably a waiata protest during his speech — David Seymour’s Act Party launched a public information campaign on Wednesday to try to boost support for its Treaty Principles Bill and put pressure on its partners in Government to go further than National’s coalition agreement, and support the bill beyond its first reading.

Perhaps not entirely coincidentally, later the same day Prime Minister Christopher Luxon made his firmest statement yet that National would not support this contentious bill past its first reading — even if there was a massive groundswell of support for it; and even if the referendum element was removed.

He also said he expected the entire process to be completed by the end of this year . . . although that might be wishful thinking. There is talk of releasing a draft bill to get public input on the proposed principles, before the  final bill gets put before Parliament to vote on — effectively resulting in two rounds of public submissions.

Amid a host of policies being implemented by the new Government that are seen as anti-Māori, it is Act’s bill that stands out in generating concern and anger — and no amount of assurances from Luxon that his party will “honour” the Treaty has calmed that.

The Prime Minister will have become increasingly frustrated that this remained at the top of the political agenda and was getting in the way of his desire to build trust among iwi leaders, to focus on issues that they can work together on.

National certainly won’t want this issue to dominate next year’s Waitangi celebrations as well.

Before Luxon made the comments to media after their weekly Cabinet meeting, Seymour was on RNZ suggesting that even if Act failed at this attempt, it would try again. He compared it to the End of Life Choice legislation that took two attempts and a fulsome select committee inquiry.

“That took 14 years — I certainly hope this doesn’t take that long.”

Seymour said he believed legislation defining the principles of the Treaty was needed, as New Zealand could not continue “with the Treaty of Waitangi defined as having some citizens in a partnership with the Crown and others with some other status”.

Luxon said this matter had been an “extensive part” of coalition negotiations and the compromise they reached was probably not satisfactory to either party.

Asked if it was a waste of everyone’s time, having a bill debated in Parliament and spending weeks at select committee before being killed off, Luxon said it would enable an “aeration of views” which was “not unhelpful”.