Act Party leader David Seymour has proposed the Treaty of Waitangi Principles Bill. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Act Party leader David Seymour has proposed the Treaty of Waitangi Principles Bill. Photo / Michael Cunningham
A group of Pākehā calling themselves Te Tiriti Is Us wants to have an adult conversation with Act leader David Seymour about his proposed Treaty of Waitangi Principles Bill.
“In the face of widespread condemnation of Act’s Treaty Principles Bill, David Seymour reiterated his assertion that New Zealanders are mature enough to have an adult conversation about Te Tiriti,” said Te Tiriti Is Us (TTIU) spokesperson Barbara Blake.
Barbara Blake, Te Tititi Is Us spokesperson.
“TTIU was founded this year. We are all Pākehā. We are not membership-based and have a fluid group of core supporters who offer skills, advice and support.”
But Seymour said any group that identifies themselves by their ethnicity is probably the reason why they don’t support his bill.
Blake said Seymour’s bill is driving a wedge between Māori and non-Māori.
“An adult conversation should be based on honest facts.
“Act’s bill is based on a false translation of Te Tiriti, as stated in a recent open letter signed by 27 professional te reo translators. This deliberate use of untrue information by Act and David Seymour is duplicitous and is not the way to lead an adult conversation about New Zealand’s founding document.”
Blake said her group is a group of “senior Pākehā New Zealanders angered by this divisive and dishonest attempt to break the promises of the Treaty signatories, with Act pretending that they are making everyone equal.
“This is a distortion of the values of equality and equity. The Treaty gave all the same opportunities to flourish. Instead, Act seems to be aiming at removing the rights of Māori wherever possible in the pretence of unity,” she said.
She said a post on their Facebook page painted a bleak future for some Māori.
“Today the Te Tiriti Is Us Facebook page received this sad message from a young Māori man: ‘There’s no help in New Zealand. No one wants me because I’m part Māori if this is to do with work especially.’
“This is a firsthand example of how some of our rangatahi are feeling at the moment, which is also reflected in the much higher youth suicide rate.
“In 2002/23 Māori aged 15-24 had 1.6 times the rate of suicide than non-Māori (21.4 vs 13.3 per 100,000, NZ Govt statistics).
Te Tiriti Is Us.
“Instead of encouraging a thoughtful adult conversation, the result of Act’s promotion of the Treaty Principles Bill is damaging, and is only encouraging the uninformed to publish harmful diatribes. It is especially disgraceful that Act is pushing the buttons of senior New Zealanders,” said Blake. “We must push back.”
To encourage more Pākehā New Zealanders to support this cause, TTIU is launching a campaign.
“To encourage a thoughtful discussion about Te Tiriti o Waitangi, Te Tiriti Is Us is running a campaign to show Pākehā support for honouring the agreement of Te Tiriti,” Blake said.
“We have run a poster campaign in Wellington and Christchurch which celebrated the rights and obligations that we as New Zealanders enjoy because of the Treaty. Our campaign is designed to appeal to people’s best self and highlights the positive – shared values such as partnership, keeping our promises, love, sharing and fairness.”
Seymour said everyone is entitled to their own opinions.
“I wasn’t aware of this group, but the fact that they choose to define themselves by their ethnicity above all is perhaps why they do not support the Treaty Principles Bill,” Seymour told the Herald.
“The bottom line is that we believe that all citizens should have equal rights, not equal rights for some based on their ancestry. The Treaty Principles Bill and proposed referendum are needed to ensure a healthy debate on whether our future lies with different rights based on ancestry, or whether we want to be a modern, multi-ethnic liberal democracy where every New Zealander has the same rights,” Seymour said.
