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The Treaty Principles Bill, introduced by ACT leader David Seymour, seeks to impose a new interpretation of the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi (also known as Te Tiriti), a treaty between Maori chiefs and the British crown that is considered one of New Zealand’s founding documents.
Proponents of the new law say it offers equality to all New Zealanders and will remove “preferential” treatment for Maori, while opponents say the proposal is either too simplistic or reinforces the social barriers and prejudices Maori face.
Debate on the bill erupted in Parliament yesterday afternoon when Te Pāti Māori MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke tore up a copy of the draft Treaty Principles and MPs and members of the public rose to perform the haka Ka Mate.
She was joined by opposition MPs and members of the public gallery, as a result of which the parliament was stopped.
It was “very messy”, Speaker of Parliament Gerry Brownlee said later. He took the very rare step of “naming” Maipi-Clarke and calling on the House to pass judgment on her conduct.
The coalition parties – National, ACT and NZ First – voted with the Speaker of Parliament to suspend Maipi-Clarke. This meant that she could not vote against the bill.
Brownlee ordered security to clear the public gallery and briefly suspended parliament as a result of the hack.
Alongside Maipi-Clarke, Te Pāti Māori co-hosts Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi came face-to-face with David Seymour, who is on the bill, as they performed the Ngāti Toa haka.
When it came time to vote on the Draft Treaty, the same parties voted yes. Their support would send the bill to a select committee, which is expected to take six months to consider.
Labour’s Māori development spokesman Willie Jackson called it a “six-month hate tour”.
Jackson was then kicked out of the House of Representatives himself, after refusing to apologize to Seymour for calling the assistant justice minister a “liar”.
Jackson said he had a “message” for Seymour, given to him by people who were at hīkoi mō te Tirita in Auckland.
“To you, David Seymour: you incite hatred and misinformation in this country, you bring out the worst in New Zealanders, you should be ashamed, and you are a liar,” Jackson told parliament.
He then refused to retract his comment. “I can’t do it,” he told Brownlee, adding, “It’s a message from the hikoi.” Then he was expelled from the House.
Seymour was under pressure during the debate and was the only MP to speak in favor of the bill. Coalition partners from National and NZ First said they did not like the bill, but would stick to the coalition agreement and support it in first reading.
He argued that the bill would give everyone “tino rangatiratanga” (broadly speaking, sovereignty or self-determination).
He rejected criticism that he was fueling racial divisions.
“That’s not true. My mission is to empower every person,” Seymour replied.
Speaking after the debate, he said that opposition and coalition MPs did not present any strong argument against the bill.
“I heard all kinds of name-calling, I heard hysteria, I saw haka, but I didn’t hear arguments,” he said.
He said he had never before seen a president throw out the entire public gallery in his decades as an MP.
Long-time members of Parliament, who have been in Parliament for decades, could not remember such a moment. They called it an “unprecedented” day for the House.
“We respect their right to a debate in accordance with the rules of parliament. They have to fight back. Otherwise it doesn’t work,” Seymour said.
“The idea that some people have a greater right to obstruct other people’s right to be represented. That’s a lot of what this bill is about, the idea that we should all have equal rights.”
Tensions between ACT and Te Pāti Māori were at a boiling point.
During the debate, Ngarewa-Packer and ACT’s Nicole McKee shouted at each other across the aisle. At one point, Seymour pulled McKee back – urging her to back off from the discussion.
During the speech, Waititi compared the ACT Party to the Ku Klux Klan.
He said Parliament had no right to redefine Te Tiriti’s principles on Waitangi, arguing that it derived its power from Te Tiriti.
“This parliament means nothing in Aotearoa without Te Tiriti o Waitangi,” he said.
He said only the Treaty signatories, being the monarch and rangatira of hapū Aotearoa, had the power to change Te Tiriti.
So he asked, “Tell me, David Seymour, which one are you?”
He told coalition MPs they were “complicit in the damage” he said the Treaty Principles Bill would cause. That bill, he said, “euthanizes Te Tiriti o Waitangi”.
With National saying it does not support the bill, Waititi said: “It looks like ACT is pulling the strings and running the country like the KKK.”
Greens co-leader Chloe Swarbrick said the bill was designed to oppress Maori.
“When you’re used to privilege, equality feels like oppression. That’s what’s behind this bill,” she said.
Earlier on Thursday, Premier Christopher Luxon spoke against the bill. At a press conference before leaving New Zealand, he called the bill “divisive” and said it was a distraction.
He said the bill oversimplified a complex issue.
“You can’t negate, with one stroke of the pen, 184 years of debate and discussion, with a bill that I think is very simplistic,” he said.
The Treaty Principles bill is expected to return to the debating chamber in the first half of next year.
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