National Party MPs stopped the Waitangi Tribunal from expressing concerns about The Treaty Principles Bill.

This week the Government’s Treaty Principles Bill was introduced to Cabinet. It is a divisive bill that nobody but the ACT Party wants – not even their coalition partners – but they’re letting it happen anyway. It’s a disgrace, and they should’ve killed it at the Cabinet table.

The Bill seeks to demolish the understanding of the Treaty that has been built through decades of scholarship, legal opinion, and judicial decisions. It implies that Jim Bolger, John Key, Bill English and Helen Clark were all wrong about the Treaty. The bill is a corrosive document designed to damage our social cohesion and jeopardise Māori-Crown relations.

It is also a big waste of time, money, and energy, as Christopher Luxon has repeatedly said his party will not support it beyond a first reading. That begs the question: why not kill it now and save us all the headache?

National agreed to support the Bill through a first reading as part of its coalition agreement with ACT. Luxon, supposedly a smart businessman and elite dealmaker, obviously saw no problem with attacking the founding document of this country and stirring up division and racial resentment for political gain.

That the ACT party, which gathered just 8.6 percent of the vote, has such influence over the National Party is a damning indictment on Luxon’s leadership. That the Bill is getting any airtime at all puts to bed any notion he has the country’s best interests at heart or even understands the political landscape or our country’s history.

I recently saw National’s disregard for Māori first-hand. At the Māori Affairs select committee, I sought cross-party agreement for the Waitangi Tribunal to brief us all on its recent report on the Treaty Principles Bill. The report shows consultation requirements from the Crown are not being met, despite “very complex discussions pertaining to the constitutional arrangements of Aotearoa New Zealand” taking place.

My request was supported by Labour, Greens, and Te PātiMāori , but rejected by committee chair Dan Bidois, deputy chair Rima Nakhle, Dana Kirkpatrick and Greg Fleming – all National Party MPs. They somehow don’t see a role for the Māori Affairs Select Committee on this matter, and dismissed the concerns raised about Māori-Crown relations.

The Māori Affairs Committee is a unique committee that operates with much more consensus than others. But National MPs have overlooked this tikanga and need to put it right. The committee is a place for Māori to air their concerns about the Crown, and it’s a significant breach of our democracy when committees are no longer willing to hear uncomfortable feedback. The Māori Affairs committee has a long history of dealing with issues affecting Māori – how can Treaty Principles not be one of them? However, it is clear that the National MPs are uncomfortable and want to separate themselves from this bill but lack the courage to stand up against it.

All of this would be moot if Christopher Luxon recognised the damage airing this Bill will do to our country and killed it before this can happen. His ministers have a majority in Cabinet and can stop it. . The Prime Minister and National Party Ministers should lead in the best interests of the country, rather than by the interests of a minor coalition partner.

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