Treaty Principles Bill: PM Christopher Luxon rules out including policy in future coalition agreements

• The Treaty Principles Bill was voted down at its second reading on Thursday.
• The bill’s architect David Seymour says he may propose the same policy again before the next election.
• Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says the bill is “done” and he would not consider including such a policy again in future coalition agreements.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has ruled out including a Treaty Principles Bill policy in future coalition agreements as David Seymour considers resurrecting the controversial policy – or something similar – before the next election.

The bill failed at its second reading on Thursday with all political parties except Act voting against it.

But Act leader Seymour remains defiant, refusing to concede the bill has failed and indicating he is considering different options to try to keep his vision alive.

“It hasn’t failed. What it has done is put an uneasy conversation on the table,” Seymour said.

At a press conference on Friday, Luxon was asked if Seymour was ever involved in a coalition Government again, can he rule out having a Treaty Principles Bill policy as part of that coalition agreement?

The Prime Minister answered: “Yes.”

National and Act’s other coalition partner, NZ First, agreed as part of coalition negotiations to support the bill to the select committee stage, but no further.

Luxon said it had been a “very tumultuous period” with “tension, stress and pressure” surrounding the bill.

“But it is done, and we are moving on.”

The bill was defeated 112 votes to 11 at its second reading on Thursday. After the reading, Seymour told reporters that in the end, “logical arguments” would prevail. He said his arguments for the policy included that everyone should have equal rights and Parliament should have the full right to make laws.

He said he did not hear a compelling counter-argument in the two hours of speeches during the reading.

“What I can say is we are going to have another strategy, another tactic, maybe very similar to what we’ve done, or it may be a bit different. We are grateful for the people who have walked with us on this journey so far.

“We will never give up on equal rights and the next steps we will take on this journey will be clear to people before the election so they can make up their minds on the journey too.”

Seymour said there were “lots of options” for what Act could do next, including proposing a more explicit equality provision in the Bill of Rights Act.

“Putting the same thing right back is a possibility, amending another law is a possibility.”

Julia Gabel is a Wellington-based political reporter. She joined the Herald in 2020 and has most recently focused on data journalism.