National-led Government faces years of protests over Māori issues - The Front Page podcast

Protesters gathered last week to express dissatisfaction with Government policies. Photo / Michael Cunningham

The National-led Government was welcomed with a fiery reception in its first week in charge.

National’s Christopher Luxon and Labour’s Chris Hipkins crossed swords in Parliament and we’ve already seen Kiwis take to the streets in protest.

This protest movement will only get louder if Te Pāti Māori has any say in the matter.

The party, which holds the largest caucus in its history, has warned protests will continue over the next three years if the new government proceeds with some of its policies.

These policies have included abolishing Māori names for government agencies and scrapping the Māori Health Authority.

National is also in a coalition with Act leader David Seymour, who was highly critical of the modern application of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

Speaking to The Front Page podcast, NZ Herald political reporter Michael Neilson says this conflict between the protest movement and the National-led coalition could become one of the defining characteristics of this government.

“In the last term, we saw National and Act campaign on this issue for almost the entire term,” says Neilson.

“There’s been a lot of concern from them about the Treaty and co-governance and it’s been such an issue for them. Now that they’re in government, they’re looking to act on that. And on the other side, there’s massive resistance to that.”

Neilson says there’s a significant risk with the Treaty Principles Bill, which Act managed to get across the line during the coalition negotiations.

“That bill will be debated in Parliament and go to select committee. There’ll be [a call for] submissions and I imagine there will be an enormous number of submissions. There’ll be huge protests around that time.

“In the activism space, people have almost been waiting for a trigger like this … I think it will be one of the biggest issues of this government. And it’s going to be a big challenge for Christopher Luxon to not let this conversation dominate everything they try and do.”

So how awkward could this become for National and Christopher Luxon? Is the coalition stable enough to endure the criticism? And is Luxon right when he says the early criticism of his party has been unfair?

Listen to the full episode of The Front Page for a full breakdown of what has been a heated week in politics.

The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. It is presented by Damien Venuto, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in business reporting who joined the Herald in 2017.

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