January 30, 2024
Partnership foundering on ACT treaty claim
Labour Leader Chris Hipkins says ACT’s proposed Treaty Principles Bill ignores Māori.
He says ACT leader David Seymour claims he’s encouraging New Zealanders to have an open and frank discussion about the Treaty of Waitangi – but he’s failed to consult Māori about how to do that.
“You can’t write Māori out of the Treaty, and you can’t write them out of the process around how the Treaty is going to continue to evolve and how our understanding of it, interpretation of it, implementation of it will continue to evolve. This Bill based on David Seymour’s current description of it, is not going to do that,” Mr Hipkins says.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has rejected David Seymour’s claim the treaty did not create a partnership.
“My personal view is, it’s a relationship between Crown and iwi, it’s akin to a partnership and as we’ve been working through over a number of decades and years — we’ll continue to work through that,” he says.