Treaty referendum: Expect civil unrest worse than Springbok tour protest, says Willie Jackson

Willie Jackson. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Willie Jackson has issued a stark warning about the potential backlash Act’s proposed Treaty referendum will likely generate should it go ahead.

Speaking on Q+A on Sunday morning, the Labour MP told host Jack Tame New Zealand would see civil unrest five to 10 times worse than the 1981 Springbok tour protest.

“... I’m nervous about what might be coming, you know, in terms of this nonsensical Treaty referendum. Let me tell you now Jack, if they try [to] push that through, it’ll be [the] ‘81 Springbok tour, civil unrest times five, times 10,” Jackson said. “I don’t think we’d be able to handle it or control it when I hear from our people.”

“Surely they aren’t going to do that after we used the system, after we went through the courts, after Māori mortgaged homes and their lives in terms of utilising the system and got victories, and now all of a sudden, they’re going to be able to manage it in this country - and I hope Mr Luxon and Winston [Peters] show a bit of common sense over this,” Jackson told Q+A.

Jackson was set to retire from politics on election night but says there’s much work to be done in opposition and someone must hold the incoming government accountable.

David Seymour campaigned on a referendum on the Treaty, and his supporters will expect the Act Leader to keep pushing for it.

In-coming prime minister Christopher Luxon has previously said that a Treaty Referendum will not be on the coalition table.

Seymour told AM this morning he was still pushing for a referendum despite Luxon not supporting it.

Seymour said New Zealand should be a country where rational debate about what the treaty’s principal’s mean can be had.

”Act has long said that our treaty is something that absolutely belongs to everyone,” said Seymour.

”People deserve to have that conversation about their constitutional future. What we’re proposing is enhancing the mana of the treaty.”