A marathon public hearing into a bill that seeks to radically reinterpret New Zealand’s founding treaty between Māori tribes and the British Crown began on Monday amid widespread outcry the proposed changes are unconstitutional, socially divisive and an attack on Māori rights.
The treaty principles bill, which was introduced to parliament by the minor coalition Act party, seeks to abandon a set of well-established principles that guide the relationship between Māori and ruling authorities in favour of its own redefined principles.
The Act party argues that Māori have been afforded different political and legal rights and privileges compared with non-Māori because of the principles that have flowed from the Treaty of Waitangi – New Zealand’s founding document that is instrumental in upholding Māori rights.
The proposal has sparked strident criticism from lawyers, academics and the public, who believe Act’s principles will weaken Māori rights and remove checks on the crown. It has prompted mass meetings of Māori leaders, and the largest ever protest on Māori rights.
Sir Edward Taihakurei Durie, a former high court judge who helped established the Waitangi Tribunal – an institution set up to investigate breaches of the treaty – told the committee the bill erased 50 years of the tribunal’s work to help develop the principles.
He said if the bill were to be passed, “our government would be the laughing stock of the western world, who understand how responsible states today seek to manage relationships with their Indigenous people.”
Former National party treaty negotiations minister Christopher Finlayson told the parliamentary committee the bill was “misconceived”.
“It endeavours to raise a number of principles that simply do not reflect the relationship between the crown and tangata whenua [people of the land],” he said.
On the first day of the public hearing on Monday, Act leader David Seymour told the committee the treaty principles had led to a society of unequal rights.
“Dividing people into racial groups is the definition of racism,” he said, adding it was putting New Zealand on the path towards totalitarianism.
Seymour was followed by dozens of speakers, including a handful who supported the bill and an overwhelming majority whohighlighted its failings.
Political scientist Dr Bronwyn Hayward told the committee the party’s rhetoric was dangerous.
“It is exploiting basic wedge-politics – it grows dissatisfaction and anger and that becomes incredibly hard to manage politically and extremely divisive for the country,” Hayward said.
Former politician Dame Marilyn Waring warned the bill would wind back decades of progress for Māori who were disadvantaged compared with non-Māori. “Where a person or peoples have been subject to socially constructed, historic, systemic, and systematic accumulative disadvantage, equality can not be achieved through equal treatment,” she said.
Indigenous politics scholar Dr Areti Metuamate said the bill was being pushed by the leader of a minority party without Māori consultation.
“It’s an insult to Māori … you should be asking Māori first what they want, and then having conversations, not forcing a bill down our throats like this.”
The bill has also triggered a historic response from the public, with early counts showing the justice committee has received more than 300,000 submissions – the highest number on a bill in the country’s history.
The bill does not have widespread support and is likely to fail at the second reading.
The committee will hear 80 hours of public oral submissions over the next month, with a report due back on 14 May.
