Christopher Luxon needs to pull Act Party’s reins in - Margaret Mutu

Act Party leader David Seymour. Photo / Michael Cunningham

A spokesperson for the National Iwi Chairs Forum says Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is failing in his duty to bring Act Party leader David Seymour into line – while he continues to spread lies and misinformation about the Treaty of Waitangi and Māori rights.

Professor Margaret Mutu, who spent 30 years researching Te Tiriti and colonisation, says the Seymour-led Act Party is deliberately misinforming New Zealanders about what Te Tiriti o Waitangi actually said – and the differences between Māori and other New Zealanders’ rights under it.

Mutu says: “If you have a look at the Act web page that deals with this, it is just so full of … well I can’t say it any other way … lies, absolute lies about Māori and about what Te Tiriti actually says.”

University of Auckland Professor of Māori Studies Margaret Mutu.

She says Act wants New Zealanders to believe Māori actually ceded their sovereignty when they never did – and she also says Luxon’s failure to bring David Seymour into line just encourages him further.

“He is using his parliamentary funded party website to give information about his proposed bill before it has the approval of Cabinet. He is directing the work of the Ministry of Justice from his website, not realising the ministry works at the direction of Cabinet, a standard democratic principle. He is treating the bill as a fait accompli, driven by propaganda rather than government policy or education.

“I suspect the Prime Minister, in his newness to the role, does not know what is happening. Seymour is exploiting his ignorance. The Prime Minister needs to call him to order.”

Gideon Porter - Waatea.News.Com