Audrey Young: Memo to Christopher Luxon - it’ll take more than a mihi to soothe Te Pāti Māori

OPINION:

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Welcome to the Politics Briefing on the day that MPs are sworn in. The Clerk of the House, David Wilson, will run the show until MPs elect Gerry Brownlee as Speaker.

The six Te Pāti Māori members are expected to pledge allegiance to King Charles eventually, as required before they can sit as MPs, but not before going off script in some way. And because Brownlee won’t be elected until after the swearing-in, nobody will be able to raise objection through a point of order.

The allegiance issue is hardly surprising. In the Cambridge Union debate last year, co-leader Rawiri Waititi said King Charles was “the figurehead of the world’s largest, longest, and most politically supported terrorist organisation”.

Protest action across the country against the Government’s Māori policy programme appears to have been largely disciplined and limited. But protest in some form is expected to continue during the term as each policy is rolled out.

Act leader David Seymour says Te Pāti Māori is protesting against democracy itself. “It’s a sad day when a political party is protesting equal rights. They’re on the wrong side of history.”

In a piece published yesterday (see below), I wrote about what could be unleashed with the programme, particularly Act’s move to try to get rid of references to the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi in law and rewrite them through an Act lens.

And when you add up the coalition Government’s plans, there are a fair few policies that explain why the protesters feel targeted: they include commitments to review the work of the Waitangi Tribunal; curb the use of Māori in the titles of Crown agencies; disestablish the Māori Health Authority; repeal the right of councils to establish Māori wards without referendum; repeal the law giving Ngai Tahu two seats on Environment Canterbury; repeal Three Waters, including regional co-governance committees; repeal replacement laws for the RMA, which includes Māori representatives on regional planning committees; remove a Treaty clause from Oranga Tamariki legislation; and a pledge to overturn a recent Court of Appeal decision on the foreshore and seabed.

While moves against the principles of the Treaty are firmly the domain of Act and New Zealand First, most of the other policies listed are National’s.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has a big challenge to address the sense division his Government policies are creating, all in the name of eliminating division. Luxon began his post-Cabinet press conference yesterday with a mihi. Somehow, I think it will take more than that.

Meanwhile, the theatre of politics in retrospect is well under way, with Finance Minister Nicola Willis continuing to talk about how horrified she is at what she has seen in the books now she is “behind the curtain”.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Finance Minister Nicola Willis at yesterday's post-Cabinet press conference. Photo / Mark Mitchell

The so-called “economic vandalism” of Labour having borrowed heavily to prop up the economy in a global crisis is going to become as tedious as Labour’s mantra in 2018 against National’s so-called “nine long years of neglect”.

Quote unquote

“Our Government is deeply committed to improving outcomes for Māori and non-Māori” - Prime Minister Christopher Luxon at his post-Cabinet press conference.

“This is going to be a one-term Government that we’ve got right now. Enjoy it and do what you can because it will be your last, is my message to the Government” - Green MP Tamatha Paul (The Hui).

Micro quiz

How many living former Prime Ministers does New Zealand have? (Answer below.)

Brickbat

Goes to Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer for her description of the Government’s programme as “state-sponsored terrorism”. It can be accused of many things, but not terrorism.

Bouquet

Goes to Nicola Willis for wanting greater Government transparency about short-term funded programmes and listing them all in one place. Yes please – and just do it. It doesn’t need a law change for that to happen.

Latest political news and views

Te Pāti Māori protests: Thousands have gathered this morning for mass nationwide protests against Government policies labelled “anti-Māori” and signalled by Te Pāti Māori as possibly the first of many this parliamentary term.

Swearing-in: Te Pāti Māori is taking its activism to Parliament today as its MPs plan to give their oaths of allegiance to Te Tiriti o Waitangi ahead of King Charles.

Opinion: While Act and NZ First both won concessions in coalition talks on the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi, one is likely to be more problematic than the other, writes Audrey Young.

Govt finances: Finance Minister Nicola Willis has accused the former Labour Government of leaving a cupboard full of nasty fiscal surprises for the new Government.

Govt leak: The new Government was rocked on Monday evening when a highly confidential Cabinet paper made its way into the public domain.

Prison staffing: The Corrections union is warning the new Government to urgently sort out a growing staffing “crisis” in prisons.

Smokefree repeal: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says he wasn’t trying to mislead the public when claiming Labour’s smokefree laws would see just one store in Northland selling tobacco.

Opinion: There had been plenty of free hits on offer for the opposition as Prime Minister Christopher Luxon went through his first week in the job, writes Claire Trevett.

WHO move: Former PM Helen Clark says New Zealand risks becoming an “international outlier” as it officially lodges concerns about a “minor” World Health Organisation policy - a move long advocated for by Covid conspiracy theorists.

Māori language: Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters is among MPs who have supported te reo on national broadcaster RNZ since 1995.

Manji resignation: The leader of The Opportunities Party, Raf Manji, is standing down from his role after failing to get into Parliament this election.

Maharey resignation: Former Labour MP and minister Steve Maharey has resigned from the boards of Pharmac and ACC.

Quiz answer: Eight - Sir Geoffrey Palmer, Jim Bolger, Dame Jenny Shipley, Helen Clark, Sir John Key, Sir Bill English, Dame Jacinda Ardern and Chris Hipkins.

Audrey Young is the New Zealand Herald’s senior political correspondent. She was named Political Journalist of the Year at the Voyager Media Awards in 2023, 2020 and 2018.

For more political news and views, listen to On the Tiles, the Herald’s politics podcast.