David Seymour’s two coalition partners – Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Deputy PM Winston Peters – are not expected to be in the House for the second reading of the controversial Treaty Principles Bill this afternoon.
Luxon, who is keen to move on from the lengthy debates that have surrounded the contentious legislation in the past, says he is not avoiding the second reading but is unable to attend because of his schedule.
He says he needs to “get on and run this country”.
“It’s just a function of schedule,” Luxon told reporters at his weekly post-Cabinet press conference.
“Frankly, it’s more important that it comes to the House and is voted down than me having to be there or not.”
Peters, the NZ First Leader, is unlikely to make it due to overseas travel plans. Labour, the Greens, Te Pāti Māori and Act have confirmed their leaders will attend.
Act’s bill has been a source of major tension during its time on Parliament’s books as critics consider it to be anti-Māori and fear it will degrade the Treaty of Waitangi and weaken Māori rights.
Seymour’s proposal to replace the many Treaty principles developed over decades with three new ones determined by Cabinet partly fuelled the massive hīkoi to Parliament in November, attended by tens of thousands of people.
Around the same time, the bill’s fiery first reading ended with several MPs going against Parliament’s rules and performing an impassioned haka on the floor of the House in front of Seymour, as MPs tried to vote on the bill.
The bill also received an unprecedented 300,000 written submissions (the previous record was just over 100,000). Of these, 90% opposed the legislation, 8% supported it and 2% had not clearly stated their position.
The bill will be voted down by an enormous majority this afternoon. Act is the only party in Parliament that supports the proposed legislation. National and NZ First supported it at the first reading as per their coalition agreements with Act.
NZ First’s Shane Jones has called it “wretched” and National’s Tama Potaka celebrated its demise, saying at a Māori business conference in Hamilton recently “nehu [burial] day is coming for the Treaty Principles Bill”.
“Thank goodness that is coming to cremation day,” Potaka added.
But Seymour has defended the policy throughout. Responding to the vast majority of submissions being opposed, he argued that high-profile bills like this often resulted in “spam” and responses that are disproportionate to genuine public opinion.
He said the bill was needed because although the Treaty principles were mentioned in legislation, Parliament has never defined what those principles are. Doing so would provide clarity, he said.
“Parliament’s silence has been filled by court findings, Waitangi Tribunal reports and government departments attempting to define the principles.
“The resulting principles afford Māori different rights from other New Zealanders.”
Julia Gabel is a Wellington-based political reporter. She joined the Herald in 2020 and has most recently focused on data journalism.
