I gave an interview on Newstalk ZB on Friday 16 August 2024 about the Waitangi Tribunal’s report, released at midday, on the proposed Coalition Govt’s Treaty Principles Bill. The report is around 200 pages, and it contains some great summaries of existing treaty principles frameworks and a fair, even-handed examination of the implications of such a TPBill – assuming it eventually emerges without any modification…. Suffice to say, the Tribunal finds that “the Crown’s Treaty Principles Bill policy and Treaty clause review are inconsistent with the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi/te Tiriti o Waitangi”.

One of the main points I made in the interview was that the proposed principle no. 2 is the real sticking point: it attempts to “transmogrify” the guarantees to Māori hapu/tribes into a guarantee of rangatiratanga/chieftainship for all NZers. This makes no sense of the historic treaty, nor the statements of treaty principles that have developed in the courts, government and Tribunal since the 1980s. Basically stated, my concern about ACT’s proposed replacement for article 2 was also a core concern of the Tribunal’s report, and of officials from the Ministry of Justice who advised the Coalition Govt on the proposed bill.

Heather du Plessis-Allan asked me questions around Māori having “special rights” under the Treaty-Te Tiriti or current treaty principles in legislation. On the contrary, I maintained, the Treaty provides essential guarantees to Māori as hapū (tribal peoples) pertaining to their lands, forests, fisheries and other taonga. These are not special rights of citizenship, as all individual New Zealanders have the same legal rights (art 3). But it is a “Treaty right” by which Māori tribes were guaranteed their hapū self-management or chieftainship (art 2) – in exchange for giving the Crown the right to govern (art 1). If we play with that essential exchange between articles 1 and 2, we are undermining the historical treaty and our moral and political obligations now under that historical compact.

The interview (less than 5 mins) can be found at this link:

The Waitangi Tribunal is calling the governments Treaty Principles Bill “unfair and discriminatory” (newstalkzb.co.nz)

See a full copy of the Tribunal’s report here: Ngā Mātāpono – The Principles: The Interim Report of the Tomokia Ngā Tatau o Matangireia – The Constitutional Kaupapa Inquiry Panel on The Crown’s Treaty Principles Bill and Treaty Clause Review Policies – Pre-publication Version (justice.govt.nz)