Waitangi Tribunal claimant says Treaty Principles Bill 'a solution to a problem that does not exist'

A claimant in the Waitangi Tribunal's urgent claim into the proposed Treaty Principles Bill is urging the government to follow the tribunal's recommendation and axe the bill.

The tribunal released its over 200-page interim report on Friday into both the ACT Party proposal and a proposed review of Treaty clauses put forward by New Zealand First.

In her letter to ministers, Waitangi Tribunal chairperson Caren Fox described the Treaty Principles Bill as "a solution to a problem that does not exist".

Ngāti Hine leader and claimant Pita Tipene said the report pointed to flaws in government policy already well understood by Māori. The introduction of a Treaty Principles Bill to Parliament would seriously damage Māori-Crown relations, he said.

"The government is being dishonourable by supporting the ACT Party on this. I just think it's really deceitful, devious, and they're being very sly; the report mentions the ACT Party has got an interpretation of the Treaty principles that is wrong."

Tipene wanted the prime minister to step in.

"The government - led by the prime minister - should not only axe the Treaty Principles Bill, but axe and dismiss the ACT Party from their coalition.

"I think it is that important, for the future of this country, that the prime minister call it for what it is and get rid of the ACT Party."

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said the government had committed to a first reading of the bill, but nothing beyond that.

"I haven't had a chance to read the report. I just say it's a bit premature for the Waitangi Tribunal to come out in the way that it has today. We haven't had a Cabinet discussion about the Treaty Principles Bill."

For his part, ACT leader David Seymour welcomed the report, saying it was a contribution to the national conversation he's calling for.

Seymour - the architect of the Treaty Principles Bill - said the tribunal was entitled to its view.

"There's clearly some people who don't like it, that's politics. What I reject is the idea that all people who are Māori think the same way, and that assumption comes through in what so many people say, and actually, by definition, is racist."

The bill will be debated in Parliament, he said.

"Where is the example, where is the working model of a society that says it's a partnership between races that your identity in your racial group matters more than your universal humanity and yet we're going to succeed together? There is no evidence."

The Green Party's Māori development spokesperson Huhana Lyndon said the report was a damning one. The Green Party supported the recommendation to stop progress on the bills and engage with Māori, she said.

"The government said that they're seeking to create a solution to something that doesn't actually exist - there isn't a problem. Te Tiriti o Waitangi is our foundation document and provides the pathway for us as tangata tiriti, tangata whenua te mahi tahi in Aotearoa."

The government needed to consider the benefits of moving forward as a nation with Te Tiriti as our foundation document, Lyndon said.