Everything you missed from day six of the Treaty principles bill hearings, when the Justice Committee heard seven hours of submissions.
Read our recaps of the previous hearings here.
An “insult to every one of our tīpuna” was the first advice the Justice Committee heard on the Treaty principles bill in a seven-hour hearing on Monday. Submitting against, Ngāpuhi Iwi Social Services’ Moana Eruera told the panel a quarter of all tamariki in state care whakapapa Ngāpuhi – “a travesty, a tragedy, a call to action”. The bill would only worsen outcomes for mokopuna and reduce their rights further, Eruera said.
Lesley McTurk, former Housing NZ chief executive and Christchurch City Council CEO, supported the bill as it was “consistent with my belief that we must honour the Treaty and redress past wrongs, of which there have been too many”. She said that while the bill may not proceed, the national conversation sparked about the Treaty is necessary.
Forest and Bird Youth’s Petra Cogger (Taranaki) submitted against the bill, arguing it would leave the environment vulnerable to exploitation without Treaty commitments. Her impassioned submission earned praise from the committee’s James Meager, Steve Abel and Tākuta Ferris, and she offered to email her response to Todd Stephenson’s question on whether the Treaty guaranteed special rights when she couldn’t answer in time. “Tēnā koe Petra, that was great,” Ferris said. “Don’t worry, the answer to Todd’s question is no.”
Urban Māori advocate and former broadcaster Bernie O’Donnell (Te Atiawa) went off script for his submission against the bill, speaking on his experience as a “Māori boomer” – born between the generation of Māori beaten for speaking te reo, and the kōhanga reo generations. “Part of living in a non-te Tiriti world meant that you had to be Pākehā,” O’Donnell said. “We lost our ability to look at the world through a Māori lens.”
Roly Fitzgerald, Te Pūao Māori ward councillor, called on parliament to reject the bill and “wash the stain of assimilation on the fabric of Aotearoa” on behalf of the Palmerston North City Council. Waikato District Council’s mayor Jacqui Church and councillor Lisa Thomson also submitted against, with the evidence that their relationship with local iwi and hapū “enrich” the council’s decision-making.
Amohaere Houkamau (Ngāti Porou), who previously worked as a ministerial advisor during the John Key and Bill English National-led government, submitted against the bill. She said the Key-English era saw a constant effort to uphold Treaty commitments, but this bill represents a “U-turn on what I consider to be one of the more enlightened periods of our parliamentary history”.
Businesswoman Fiona Mackenzie, speaking in support, criticised the “local separatists” who organised nationwide hīkoi against the bill. “New Zealanders are having our democratic rights stripped from us and handed to a dictatorial few – not all Māori, even, just to a few,” she said. When the Greens’ Abel described her as a “white person”, her pale face remained firm: “how do you know that?”
Former conservation minister Eugene Sage described the bill as “the most dangerous piece of legislation to be introduced in 20 years”. She praised the Treaty-based partnership in Te Papa-Kura-o-Taranaki, established in 2014, which has helped to restore ecological vitality. “You get better outcomes for all people and conversation, that restores mana and whakapapa, and opportunity to turn around our biodiversity crisis,” she said.
Rawiri Wright, co-chair of Te Runanga Nui o Nga Kura Kaupapa Maori o Aotearoa, said Māori were experiencing “cultural defence fatigue”. “We are tired of constantly having to defend ourselves and our way of life,” he said, “but like we have done since the Pākehā arrived in Aotearoa, we will endure.”
Michael Stevens, who committee chair James Meager called “the people’s professor”, presented for Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu. He spoke about Sir Apirana Ngata’s campaign for Māori to fight in both world wars, which he saw as a way to strengthen relationships between Māori and the Crown and give more mana to Te Tiriti. “The framers and supporters of this bill are ignorant or indifferent towards that sacred backdrop, but the Justice Committee should not be,” he said.
Kara Puketapu-Dentice, the chief executive of Taranaki Whānui ki te Upoko o Te Ika, gave an emotive speech calling the bill “not just an insult to our past, but a threat to our future. It tells us once again that our place in this country is conditional. That our mana, our rights, our very existence as tangata whenua is subject to the political whims of those who sit in power today.”
Auckland councillor Richard Hills said the bill would create legal uncertainty and negatively impact the council’s relationship with the 19 tribal authorities of Tāmaki Makaurau. Fellow councillor Angela Dalton said working with iwi had been beneficial. “It’s our experience that when we engage with iwi from the beginning, we get the best decisions.” Rawiri Waititi asked if council relationships counted as a special privilege. “Maybe for us,” Dalton replied.
Rawinia Higgins, Victoria University’s deputy vice-chancellor (Māori), said the bill “overreaches on the kāwanatanga principle, and undermines tino rangatiratanga.” She said principle 2 in the proposed bill amounted to “an unreasonable limitation on the rights promised to Māori in 1840” and disregarded pre-existing Māori rights. If the bill were to go to a referendum, she argued that it should only be for Māori. “If this is up for everyone to vote on, then [Pākehā] settlers would have been party to the signing of the original documents,” she said.
A standout among the final submissions of the day was Ngaire Rae, a Pākehā Treaty educator with Network Waitangi Whangārei. She said her group’s work was inspired by Pākehā who stood up against the Springbok tour, those who protested social welfare cuts, and the Pākehā Māori who integrated with iwi pre-1840. “It is from this history that I speak here today,” she said. “The only way tangata tiriti can be truly settled in this land is if we are in an honourable relationship with the people of this land.”
Submissions on the Treaty principles bill will resume on Thursday, February 20.
