Ngāti Kahungunu has launched a nationwide petition calling on the Government to stop removing, weakening or amending Te Tiriti o Waitangi principles and references across New Zealand law, warning the issue goes to the heart of the relationship between Māori and the Crown.
The petition from Ngāti Kahungunu Iwi Incorporated has been accepted by Parliament and opened for public signatures, adding another front to the growing battle over the place of Te Tiriti in legislation.
Iwi chair Bayden Barber says Te Tiriti is the founding agreement of Aotearoa and should not become a political tool as the country heads towards Election 2026.
The petition was mandated by the Ngāti Kahungunu Iwi Incorporated Board at its July meeting after members expressed significant concern about Government proposals affecting Treaty references in legislation. The Board has called for genuine engagement with Māori over constitutional or legislative changes involving Te Tiriti.
19 laws at centre of review
Ngāti Kahungunu says its immediate concern is the Government’s work across 19 pieces of legislation, where existing Te Tiriti or Treaty references face different forms of change.
According to material supplied by the iwi, two laws would have existing references amended or weakened, while references within seven laws would be repealed.
Another 10 laws would have provisions changed to specify how Te Tiriti considerations are to be taken into account.
The legislation identified stretches across significant areas of public policy, including education, climate change, environmental regulation, statistics, digital identity, mental health, health services and drinking-water regulation.
Ngāti Kahungunu argues changes on that scale should not proceed without consultation with iwi Māori and the wider public.
The iwi’s position is consistent with concerns it has previously raised over legislative reform. In a 2025 submission on the Regulatory Standards Bill, Ngāti Kahungunu argued that regulation and policy should explicitly recognise and operationalise Te Tiriti and involve meaningful engagement with iwi and hapū.
Seven more laws being dealt with separately
The iwi says another seven Acts initially associated with the wider review are being considered through separate processes.
They include the Conservation Act, Crown Minerals Act, Resource Management Act, Hauraki Gulf Marine Park Act, Urban Development Act and Kāinga Ora–Homes and Communities Act, alongside the Harbour Boards Dry Land Endowment Revesting Act.
That means the debate potentially reaches into conservation, housing, mining, environmental management and the future governance of significant natural resources.
Recent resource-management legislation illustrates how consequential the detail can become. The Natural Environment Bill currently before Parliament contains specific Treaty provisions as well as protections relating to Treaty settlements and Māori customary non-commercial fishing rights.
For Barber, the connection goes back to 1840
For the Ngāti Kahungunu chair, the kaupapa is also deeply connected to whakapapa.
Barber is a direct descendant of Harawira Mahikai Te Tātere, who was among the rangatira who signed Te Tiriti at Waipūreku in 1840. Barber’s own published whakapapa records that direct connection.
That history sits behind the iwi’s argument that today’s descendants of the rangatira who entered into Te Tiriti retain both an interest and responsibility in defending its place within Aotearoa’s constitutional arrangements.
Ngāti Kahungunu is one of the country’s largest iwi, and its decision to take the issue directly to Parliament gives supporters a formal democratic mechanism through which to register their opposition.
Te Tiriti becoming an Election 2026 battleground
The petition arrives only months from the general election and ensures Te Tiriti will remain firmly within the political debate.
Ngāti Kahungunu argues the Government should be concentrating on health, education, the environment and the economy rather than pursuing legislative changes the iwi believes risk creating further division.
For voters, however, the debate also creates an opportunity to scrutinise precisely what is being proposed.
There is an important distinction between removing a Treaty reference entirely, amending its wording and specifying more tightly how a provision operates. Each can carry different legal consequences.
That means the political argument ahead should not simply be whether someone supports or opposes Te Tiriti principles. It will also be about what each individual legislative change actually does, which Māori rights and interests could be affected, and whether iwi and hapū have been meaningfully involved before Parliament makes those decisions.
Petition heading to Parliament
The petition calls on the Government not to remove or amend Te Tiriti principles or references in legislation.
Once concluded, it is expected to be presented to Ikaroa-Rāwhiti MP Cushla Tangaere-Manuel.
Ngāti Kahungunu is encouraging people throughout Aotearoa who support retaining Te Tiriti protections to add their names.
For the iwi, this is bigger than any single section of legislation.
It is about whether a relationship entered into by rangatira and the Crown in 1840 continues to have practical meaning in the laws governing Aotearoa in 2026.
And with Election 2026 approaching, Ngāti Kahungunu has made its position clear: Te Tiriti is not simply another policy setting to be rewritten with a change of government — it is an enduring agreement whose descendants expect to be heard.
Sign the Ngāti Kahungunu petition on Parliament’s website
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