Treaty Principles Bill: The speeches

Parliament's first reading debate for the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill was an electric affair, but with a few surprisingly lacklustre speeches.

The bill's sponsor David Seymour was enthusiastic; Labour, Green and Te Pāti Māori MPs were outraged, angry, and even despairing. National MPs seemed bent on mitigation and damage control.

Much coverage has focussed on the protest that followed the speeches, but the speeches themselves were interesting. Below are photos and quotes from a few of them.

Note: The audio below, from The House's Sunday edition, contains two stories: firstly on press gallery accreditation (an issue in relation to the apology for abuse in state care), and the other on the Treaty Principles debate.

This audio is not downloadable due to copyright restrictions.

The first speaker was ACT Leader David Seymour, whose bill this is.

"The division that you are seeing was not caused by this bill; it has been built up over decades, during which New Zealanders have come to regard themselves as based on ancestry or one side of a partnership instead of as New Zealanders. And, what's worse, successive governments have encouraged that division. The division is there whether this bill is here to reveal it or not, and we cannot afford to ignore it any longer," he said.

"In summary, the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill fills a silence this Parliament has left for five decades. In so doing, it affirms the basis of our country. It is not division. Treaties are supposed to unite people, not divide them. We are fortunate that our country was founded by a voluntary agreement giving ngā tikanga katoa reti tahi, or equal rights to all. And for affirming and celebrating that wonderful inheritance, I commend this bill to the House."

Labour MP Willie Jackson. Labour opposes the bill.

"Shame, shame, shame on you, David Seymour. Shame on you for what you're trying to do to this nation in introducing this Treaty Principles Bill," he said.

"Ngāti Rēhia will be ashamed that one of their sons has come up with a political stunt that looks to divide the nation and the partnership that we've been trying to get right since the most pre-eminent jurist in New Zealand history - Lord Cooke - made that historic declaration of partnership in 1987.

"This bill seeks to rewrite the Treaty. David Seymour wants to turn over 50 years of our understanding of Treaty principles and partnership. The principles are clear - they're clear. They're about partnership, they're about equity, they're about active protection, and they're about redress - simple. Why does this offend this minister so much?"

The Speaker requested Willie Jackson leave the debating chamber after he declined to 'withdraw and apologise' for the end of his speech, in which he broke the parliamentary prohibition against calling another MP dishonest.

"Yesterday, I was on a hīkoi. I was so proud to be on that hīkoi with our political colleagues in the Māori Party, the Green Party - wonderful - and Asians, Māori, and Pasifika were all there," Jackson said.

"They gave me a clear message, and I agreed to give that message here, today. This is to you, David Seymour: 'you fuel hatred and misinformation in this country, you bring out the worst in New Zealanders, you should be ashamed of yourself, and you are a liar'."

Green leader Chlöe Swarbrick. The Green Party opposes the bill.

"When Te Tiriti was signed, Māori outnumbered Pākehā by 40 to one. Can you imagine a small group of people coming to this country, signing an agreement to look after themselves in orderly cohabitation, then, instead, taking our land and our language? Well, that is the abridged history of Aotearoa New Zealand," she said.

"That is what the British Crown did in establishing this Parliament and its institutions. The legacy of that violence, oppression, theft and colonisation and the breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi is represented in today's deeply unequal and unfair statistics in people's lives.

"Pākehā mā, tauiwi mā, we have been told for almost all of our lives that Māori sovereignty is something to be afraid of. Who has been telling you that? Who benefits and who pays the price?"

National Party MP (and Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations), Paul Goldsmith. National has stated repeatedly that it will support the Bill through the first reading and the select committee process, but will vote against it at the second reading.

"The background to the arrival of this bill, the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill, for its first reading in Parliament has been well traversed. The coalition agreement between ACT and National stipulates that National will support the Treaty Principles Bill for its first reading and to select committee, and that's what we're doing today. The Prime Minister also has indicated many times that, as far as the National Party is concerned, that is far as our support will go," he said.

"Parliament first referred to the principles of the Treaty in the 1970s but never defined them. The courts have stepped into that vacuum over the past 30-odd years. The principles of the Treaty, such as the concept of partnership, have gained more and more weight over time.

"It is, of course, appropriate for politicians and the public to debate what the Treaty means today and what it should mean in the future. The interpretations given by the courts are not gospel. We should be able to debate these things.

"Our concern comes, however, with the process under this bill, whereby Parliament would simply set down its interpretation of the Treaty and then seek a majority of the public to confirm it in a referendum. This is a crude way to handle a very delicate subject."

Casey Costello for New Zealand First. Like National, New Zealand First plan to support the bill only through the first reading and Select Committee. New Zealand First has previously attempted to pass similar legislation, which - rather than seeking to define the principles of the three articles - sought to legislate against the existence of any principles at all.

"As it was recorded, when signing the Treaty, the chiefs were greeted 'He iwi tahi tātou' - together we are a people, a nation. And we did form a nation, and our people, although not always getting it right, did come together. We are not a people who should fear debate, ideas, or difference of opinion.

"Democracy is weakened by a censorious approach. Democracy is chilled if the highest court in the land is stifled. Differences of opinion are expected, and today, in the esteemed debating chamber, we have the chance to demonstrate that we are not censorious, and we will not be stifled. There is nothing to fear through challenging ideas and presenting different positions.

"That is what brings us to the House today - the ability to bring ideas, challenge those ideas, and perhaps be enriched by those different perspectives and maybe come to a better position because of what we have learned."

Rawiri Waititi, for Te Pāti Māori. Te Pāti Māori opposes the Bill.

"Te Tiriti o Waitangi is superior to any person and any law ever created in this House. It is the constitutional document by which this House and democracy is established here in Aotearoa," he said.

"This Parliament means nothing in Aotearoa without Te Tiriti o Waitangi. The only reason this Parliament exists in Aotearoa is because our tīpuna consented to it.

"The only people who can make changes in an agreement are the parties who signed it. The King of England, and ki ngā rangatira me ngā hapū o Aotearoa (the chiefs of the tribes of Aotearoa). Now, tell me, David Seymour, which one of those are you? ACT are seen to be pulling the strings and running the country, like the KKK with a swipe card to the Beehive. And Luxon doesn't even care. There's a ghost in his chair.

"Everybody, every single one of the members sitting on that side of the House have enabled this bill to be introduced to the House. You are complicit in the harm and the division that this presents and are complicit in the euthanising of Te Tiriti o Waitangi."

Louise Upston, National MP and Minister for Social Development.

"I am determined to build a society that breaks down barriers for Kiwis with the highest needs. Too often, those with the highest needs are Māori, and, in many cases, Māori have the answers," she said.

"I'm proud of the work that we do to support a by Māori, for Māori approach. We are working to help New Zealanders with a package of reforms to get our kids back to school and learning the basics brilliantly through programmes that support families to move out of motels and into stable housing and by helping people move off benefits and into work. This is how we improve lives and opportunities for New Zealanders. This bill does nothing to help.

"MMP is a complex environment, and all parties are required to make compromises to form a Government. National will uphold the coalition agreement with ACT and support their Treaty principles bill at first reading, allowing it to go to select committee. However, we will vote against it at the second reading, as this bill does nothing to help."

Duncan Webb, Labour MP for Christchurch Central.

"This bill is a shameful return to some of the most offensive legislation this House has passed," he said.

"When we look back and we think of the Maori Prisoners Act 1880, suspending trial rights for Māori at Parihaka; the New Zealand Settlements Act 1863, confiscating land after the Tainui wars; the Tohunga Suppression Act 1907, banning traditional practices; and the Native Schools Act 1867, banning the use of te reo - we look back now and we think, 'How could Parliament have been so wrong, so fundamentally at odds with the promises made in the Treaty? So racist.' Yet here we are. Christopher Luxon, you are presiding over the most racist piece of legislation in a hundred years...

"So we've come a long way since those laws were passed - or so we thought. We've recognised this House does not have an unfettered mandate to violate the rights of others. But this bill demonstrates that some people still think that because Parliament is sovereign, because the power exists, there's a mandate to expropriate, rewrite, and revisit. They think their power is unfettered, unbridled, and unconstrained, but it's not.

"As those 42 King's Counsel said, even if Parliament can legislate like this, it should not, because it's not for the government of the day to retrospectively and unilaterally reinterpret constitutional treaties - that would offend the basic principles which underpin New Zealand's representative democracy."

During the party vote, having announced Te Pāti Māori's dissent, MP Hana Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke tore a copy of the Bill in half, while launching into the Ngāti Toa haka 'Ka Mate'.

Three MPs from Te Pāti Māori began the haka, and were quickly joined by other MPs and people in the public galleries above the chamber.

Parliament's official footage retreated to shots of the Speaker looking on, obviously displeased, as the camera vibrated with each haka downbeat. Once the haka concluded, the Speaker called for a suspension of the House and the clearing of the public galleries.

The Bill passed its first reading 68 to 54. (Maipi-Clarke's vote was detracted, after she was named and suspended for 'grossly disorderly conduct'.)

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