ACT launches Treaty Principles Bill information campaign

The ACT Party has launched a public information campaign on its Treaty Principles Bill, in an effort to ward off what it calls false claims from the opposition.

This includes a new website, treaty.nz, which includes a Q&A section setting out ACT's approach and a video featuring leader David Seymour.

"Time and time again, the opposition have claimed we are trying to re-write, or even abolish, the Treaty. This is false," Seymour said in a statement accompanying the release.

He said ACT held as a basic value that every child in New Zealand deserved the same respect and dignity including equality before the law, and it was this belief which underpinned the Treaty Principles Bill.

"It's a principle that has the backing of our nation's founding document, with Article Three of Te Tiriti promising the same rights and duties for all New Zealanders," Seymour said.

With differences in meaning between the English and Māori language versions of the Treaty texts, interpretations on what it means have differed through history. Differences in translation have centred on words like tino rangatiratanga (now typically considered to mean absolute sovereignty or self-determination) and kāwanatanga (translated roughly as "governance").

This led the government to establish in law the Waitangi Tribunal "for the observance, and confirmation, of the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi ... and to determine whether certain matters are inconsistent with the principles of the Treaty".

The Tribunal's findings and recommendations would then be reported back to the government to make final decisions on. The principles include core concepts considered to have arisen from the text, like "partnership" and "active protection". References to the principles have appeared in several pieces of legislation.

Some Māori consider these principles to be a weakened version of the Treaty itself.

Seymour and ACT argue the interpretation of these principles were developed through the tribunal, courts and public service, and "New Zealanders as a whole have never been democratically consulted on these Treaty principles".

"The Treaty Principles Bill will not change the Treaty itself. That was set in 1840 and will remain forever. What we are seeking to do is continue the process of defining the Treaty principles, for the first time incorporating the voices of all people through a democratic Parliamentary process, instead of through the Tribunal or the courts," the party's website states.

The proposed Bill sets out ACT's vision of the principles of the Treaty, based on the three articles of the Treaty, including:

• That the government has the right to govern for all New Zealanders
• That the government will honour all New Zealanders in the chieftainship of their land and all their property
• That all New Zealanders are equal under the law with the same rights and duties

If the Bill were to progress through Parliament, it would then put this question to the public in a nationwide referendum.

However, this interpretation differs again from the understanding of the Treaty developed through the Tribunal and the courts.

The proposals put forward have generated widespread backlash from many Māori, with discussions on how to challenge the government over it taking place at the nationwide hui organised by the kiingitanga, at Rātana, and at Waitangi.

A leaked Ministry of Justice memo also noted the proposed bill was "at odds with what the Treaty of Waitangi actually says", and would "change the nature of the principles from reflecting a relationship akin to a partnership between the Crown and Māori to reflecting the relationship the Crown has with all citizens of New Zealand".

Seymour said the Bill would restore the meaning of the Treaty to what was written and signed in 1840.

"Any time we say people have different rights based on ancestry we breed resentment," he said in his video. "What we're asking for is a proper debate on the Treaty."

National and New Zealand First have agreed to support the bill to the select committee stage, but have refused so far to commit any support beyond that.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has repeatedly dampened expectations of further support, but has repeatedly refused to explicitly rule it out.

The ACT website appears optimistic it will gain support from partner parties, noting that all three would need to agree on the wording of the bill before it is introduced to Parliament, and "beyond the first reading, it will be up to ACT and the public to convince Parliament to support the Bill further".

Under a section headed "did Māori cede sovereignty to the Crown", the website also claims Article 1 of the Treaty in both texts "clearly states the New Zealand government has the right to govern all New Zealanders".

However, the claim has been disputed for decades, and the Tribunal - the body set up by the government to determine the answer to such questions - ruled Māori never ceded sovereignty.