November 07, 2012
Anti-Māori fringe blamed for lack of treaty pledge support
Māori Party MP Te Ururoa Flavell is accusing National of bowing to pressure from a small anti-Māori minority in blocking a move to allow MPs to pledge allegiance to the Treaty of Waitangi.
National MPs are expected to vote against the first reading of Mr Flavell's Oaths and Declarations Bill, which was due to be debated today.
He says National's caucus has decided the change isn't necessary, which makes a mockery of the party's claims about the status of the treaty as the founding document of the nation.
He says it's a disturbing development, given that National's relationship with the Māori Party was supposed to show how people with different kaupapa can work together constructively, as the Treaty foresaw.
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