Insults, anger and a haka in New Zealand parliament as MPs debate bill on Māori rights
GuardianNOV 11 2024
Hundreds of New Zealanders set off on a nine-day March to Wellington Monday, protesting the Treaty Principles Bill—now in parliament—that seeks to reinterpret the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi. Under the United for Te Tiriti banner, they want the government to “kill the bill.”
Organized by the Toitū te Tiriti (Honour the Treaty) advocacy group, the march began in Cape Rēinga in northern New Zealand, with the protesters looking to converge before parliament next Tuesday. As they move south, the protesters have scheduled rallies in towns like Auckland.
New Zealand's founding document, the Treaty of Waitangi guides the relations between the indigenous Maoris and the British Crown, upholding the former's rights. Associate Justice Minister David Seymour of the ACT New Zealand party introduced the new bill in Parliament last week.
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.