February 12, 2024
Dead treaty bill waste of time and money
Former Alliance and Māori Party MP Sandra Lee-Vercoe says Christopher Luxon needs to kill ACT’s Treaty Principles Bill now rather than waste the time and resources of the people and organisations who will feeled compelled to make submissions.
The Prime Minister came out last week with a clear statement National would not support the bill past the select committee, after making ACT leader David Seymour an Associate Justice Minister so he can oversee its progress.
Ms Lee-Vercoe says that’s not good enough, and Mr Luxon needs to say now at what stage National will vote to kill the bill.
In the meantime people are already working on their submissions.
“Every iwi in the country will be forced to do that, hapu etc, to go down, fly down, travel down to the select committee during the second and third reading to be heard. So will every government department. They will all have to respond. Probably every council in the land will be making submissions. So the question is begged, how much time will Luxon waste and energy and work by citizens of New Zealand, not just Maori, before he pulls the plug?” Ms Lee-Vercoe says.
She says the Treaty Principles Bill is a breach of the Treaty of Waitangi, because the principles are already contained in the articles of the treaty, and a minor party has no right to rewrite a foundational constitutional document.