Treaty Principles Bill: Mixed messages by coalition Government awful - Heather du Plessis-Allan

OPINION

It’s hard to shake the feeling that some in the coalition Government are playing silly b***ers over Act’s Treaty Principles Bill.

There is now a growing suspicion that the plan is to introduce the bill but then kill it.

The suspicion first arose on November 24 last year, the day the coalition agreements were released.

That afternoon Chris Luxon said on NewstalkZB Drive he would kill the bill after the Select Committee phase.

I asked him: “Chris, let’s get this straight, you are not going to support it beyond the Select Committee stage come hell or high water? It’s not happening?”

He replied: “That’s very much the position of our Government, yup.”

Why would a Government start such a controversial debate for no outcome, asks Heather du-Plessis Allan. Photo / Michael Cunningham

Within half an hour I was fielding texts on my personal phone asking if Luxon had really said what people had heard. One person close to Act messaged to say he’d had four people call him since the interview.

I assumed Luxon had made a mistake. He must have. Why would a Government waste Parliament’s time and resources introducing a bill they knew would never become law? Why would a Government start such a controversial debate for no outcome?

After the show I called to check that I was right, that it was just a mistake. It wasn’t. Luxon had meant what he said. The bill would go no further.

This week, he’s changed his tune. Now he’s not ruling it out.

David Seymour says Act’s Treaty Principles Bill hasn't been killed off by National. Photo / File

That seems to be what David Seymour also believes. He has been adamant this week the Nats are keeping an open mind.

But in a twist, NZ First on Tuesday said the same thing Luxon had said in November. Shane Jones told Newshub that after Select Committee “we won’t be voting for it”.

When the Herald called Jones to confirm the comments later that day, he walked them back.

So how should we decipher the mixed messages?

Most likely, the bill is dead but the Nats and NZ First are pretending it isn’t to placate either Act or Act’s supporters who voted for a referendum. On the occasions Luxon and Jones admitted they would kill it, they were probably accidentally telling the truth.

In which case, someone’s being messed around.

It could be Seymour, if he really believes his bill has a chance. If that’s the case he will be relying on private assurances by NZ First and National they are open to supporting his bill beyond Select Committee when they have no intention to.

If it’s not him, it’s voters. Because in that case, Seymour is in on the charade, playing along knowing his bill will be killed but already confident he will get some sort of win to replace it. Perhaps, the rewrite of the Treaty principles that he wants but without the referendum that everyone has fixated on. In this case, all voters are being messed around - not just Act’s - because we are all being dragged through this upsetting debate for potentially no outcome at all.

Alternatively, no one’s being messed around because the coalition Government just actually has no idea what it’s doing.

It is entirely possible the thought of talking about race relations freaks out the timid senior MPs in the National Party so badly they want to kill it right now. But the thought of Act’s idea proving popular and them being caught on the wrong side of public opinion and risking the next election freaks them out even more. In which case, they’re constantly bouncing from Kill The Bill to Don’t Kill it Completely and just telling the media whatever position they’ve landed on that day.

Whatever is really going on privately, the mixed messages are awful.