July 04, 2024
ACT word shift exposes political intent
Licensed te reo Māori translators are calling out the mistranslations and misinformation underpinning ACT’s Treaty Principles Bill.
They’ve have sent a letter to the Prime Minister and other Cabinet ministers pointing out where ACT leader has left some things out, added new interpretations and disregarded the context and intent of the treaty.
Under the coalition agreement, National will support the bill to go to a select committee where the public can make submissions.
Melanie Nelson, one of the letter’s 27 signatories, says while Mr Seymour now claims to be basing his interpretation of the Maori text of the treaty on the translation by the late Sir Hugh Kawharu included as an appendix to the Treaty of Waitangi Act, he has cherry-picked and distorted what it says.
“when you look at that translation and understand the footnotes and context, the rights were guaranteed to Maori who were called New Zealanders at that time, there were only 2000 British in New Zealand and they identified as British, so the rights were clearly guaranteed to Maori,” she says.
Ms Nelson says Mr Seymour’s interview today on Breakfast Television showed a shift in language, where he is working on the basis not of what the treaty says but what he wants it to say.