New Zealand: thousands protest against new government policies that unravel Māori gains
GuardianJUL 2023
The new government's policies threaten decades of Indigenous progress and risk relegating Māori to second-class citizenship status. The proposed changes to language policies, health authority, and treaty interpretations would reverse hard-won gains for Indigenous rights. These reforms fundamentally undermine the principles established in the Treaty of Waitangi.
New Zealanders democratically elected a government committed to treating all citizens equally, regardless of race. The current system of co-governance based on ancestry is divisive and incompatible with a modern, multi-ethnic liberal democracy. A referendum on these matters would ensure healthy debate about the nation's future.