Act Party leader David Seymour. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Act Party leader David Seymour. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Opinion by Act leader David Seymour
THREE KEY FACTS:
The Treaty of Waitangi is New Zealand’s founding document and was signed on February 6 1840.
The Treaty is an agreement, in Māori and English, that was made between the British Crown and about 540 Māori rangatira (chiefs).
The Treaty is a broad statement of principles on which the British and Māori made a political compact to found a nation state and build a government in New Zealand.
David Seymour is the leader of the Act Party and Deputy Prime Minister-in-waiting. He is responding to a letter signed by 150 organisations sent to Christopher Luxon that Act’s Anti-Treaty Bill promotes misinformation and is highly misleading to the people of this country.
OPINION:
There’s a common theme running through politics that unites people from the right and left. They want to be more united. People want more open, honest, respectful dialogue. They know our country faces some big asks at the moment. They want to solve problems and move forward. The question is, how?
I believe it starts with acknowledging the huge amount we all have in common. Politics seems uniquely set up to magnify differences, but somehow misses what unites us even though the latter is much bigger.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon.
Traditionally, universal human rights have been a touchstone of our nation, and all the good historical movements elsewhere, too. Votes for women, the civil rights movement in America, and the end of apartheid in South Africa, and the right to be yourself and who you love regardless of sexuality. The same rights, the same dignities for every person.
These two themes come together in te tiriti o Waitangi, and in the Government’s Treaty Principles Bill. The bill emphasises the universal human rights that appear throughout te tiriti, and invites an open debate on it. That is the spirit in which Act launched the Treaty Principles Bill.
There is another view, and I happily acknowledge it has been the dominant view this century. It says te tiriti created a ‘partnership between races’. On this view what the two versions literally said is less important than the fact two parties did a deal. Therefore, the logic goes, we are forever bound to exist as a compact of two races in partnership according to the Principles as they exist today. Just because a view is dominant, though, does not make it correct.
The Treaty Principles Bill will present a version of the Principles more closely linked to what the Treaty says, that we all have nga tikanga katoa rite tahi – the same rights and duties. All New Zealanders have tino rangatiratanga, the right to self-determine, not only Māori. On this version, every child growing up in New Zealand deserves the same respect and dignity, including equality before the law.
That is the fundamental question being asked by the Treaty Principles Bill, which will be introduced later this term. So why do I say all this right now? Yesterday an open letter to the Prime Minister demanded that the debate shouldn’t even take place. It asked him to throw the bill out before the bill is written, and before they could possibly have read it.
The Waitangi sheet of the Treaty of Waitangi, signed between the British Crown and various Maori chiefs in 1840. Photo / File
New Zealand needs this debate, but it can’t be dictated by misinformation and bad faith actors who want to stop Kiwis from having their say. Here’s my challenge to those who want to debate the Treaty Principles Bill:
Don’t try to deny others open debate, you are entitled to hold your own opinions, of course, but not to suppress others’.
Don’t deny someone an opinion because they’re not ‘an expert’. We all have a stake in our country’s future and its constitutional settings. In a democracy you don’t need to be prequalified to have your say.
Don’t accuse people of racism for not agreeing with you. Not only is it wrong, it devalues an important term.
Signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840.
I believe New Zealanders can be trusted with difficult debates. Ultimately, it’s the public that will persuade Parliament to advance the Treaty Principles Bill to a referendum.
I accept that not everyone will agree with our view, that’s exactly why we want to have the opportunity for New Zealanders to have their say – something that they haven’t had a chance to do on this issue. We believe in the freedom to express your difference and will put our view out there to be engaged with.
New Zealanders who visit our information hub at www.treaty.nz have told us they’re shocked to realise how brazenly opposition has misrepresented the Treaty Principles Bill, and how often the media fails to correct them. I encourage you to read from the horse’s mouth, as it were.
New Zealand should be a place where anyone can flourish. That means politicians taking care of the basics, regulating sensibly and targeting support based on need. An obsession with identity and elevating race above need will only stoke division.
