Foreign Minister Winston Peters has stepped in to clean up the diplomatic mess left by David Seymour’s ill-judged letter to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Earlier this year, Seymour used his ministerial pen to attack Albert Barume, dismiss Māori concerns, and breach UN confidentiality protocols. Peters’ formal reply, sent this month and published on the United Nations website along with redactions, pulls the issue back into international law and proper process. His letter acknowledges the UN’s role, reasserts New Zealand’s commitment to its treaty obligations, and, most importantly, removes Seymour’s personalised grandstanding from the equation.
Minister Peters wrote; “We … understand that you did not directly receive the letter to you by my colleague [REDACTED – likely to be David Seymour], but rather that you learned about its existence from reports in the media.
“We deeply regret this breakdown in protocol and appreciate this opportunity to put the record straight,”
“We are focused on reaching targets to improve outcomes in health, education, law and order, work and housing and on providing public services to all New Zealanders including working with Iwi (tribes) and Māori to accelerate Māori economic growth and enable targeted investment in Maori social development.” wrote Peters.
The letter also detailed the status of the Māori seats, the Bill of Rights Act, and the Waitangi Tribunal.
For Māori, this intervention matters. The UN’s inquiry didn’t appear out of thin air, it came because Māori have, for generations, exercised their right to seek international oversight when these rights are under threat. That’s what’s happening now, through the Regulatory Standards Bill and other regressive policies.
And while Peters has shown diplomacy, many Māori note he could have gone further -formally reprimanding Seymour in the letter itself, making it clear that the Minister for Regulation’s comments were out of line and did not reflect the position of Aotearoa.
Peters has steadied the coalition-waka on the diplomatic stage, but it’s still in choppy seas domestically.
