Relations between Māori and NZ government deteriorate as details of controversial bill leak

New Zealand once enjoyed a favourable reputation on race relations, but fewer than 100 days into the new government, Māori leaders have slammed its agenda as a “white supremacist approach”.

That strong language is coming from a co-leader of The Māori Party, but Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is facing criticism from several sources as well as mounting legal challenges.

In the space of a week, a legal document leaked from the Ministry of Justice has shed some light on a controversial bill being drafted that aims to rewrite the principles of New Zealand’s founding document — the Treaty of Waitangi.

And the Māori King, Te Arikinui Tūheitia Paki, held the first national hui — or meeting of Māori — in a decade to discuss the government’s agenda.

While 3,000 people were expected to attend the hui, more than 10,000 showed up.

Then, on Wednesday, a senior Māori leader issued a warning: “If there is any measure of meddling with Te Tiriti o Waitangi, Māori will not sit idly by.”

This is all against a backdrop of protests and legal challenges as Māori organisations try to halt some of the government’s policy changes that they say will disproportionately impact New Zealand’s first people.

Co-leader of Te Pati Māori (The Māori Party) Debbie Ngarewa-Packer told the ABC that Māori leaders will “continue to grow the resistance”.

“I think it’s a humiliating state for this government to be in when the rest of the world can see that there are strong accusations coming from Māori,” she said.

“They are being called an anti-Māori government, they’re being called out as practising white supremacy in how they’re trying to diminish our Māori language, how they’re trying to diminish initiatives that help us to stay alive.”

Mr Luxon denied that characterisation.

“I outright reject it and I think it’s entirely inappropriate. I think it’s very offensive and I think it’s very divisive and very unhelpful,” he told a press conference on Tuesday.

This is an important time of the year for Māori.

The national hui was held over Kīngitanga koroneihana — the annual celebration of the coronation of the Māori king, a largely ceremonial title without legal or judicial power. And Māori leaders have this week met at Rātana, an important meeting of tribal leaders often also attended by cabinet ministers.

And while Friday is Australia Day, marking the date the first permanent British colony was established at Sydney Cove, New Zealand will celebrate its national day on February 6.

Waitangi Day marks the day the treaty between Māori chiefs and representatives of the British crown was signed in 1840.

On Wednesday, Mr Luxon and Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters received a frosty reception at Rātana.

But the prime minister moved to reassure those gathered that discussion around treaty principles would not progress into any actual altering of it.

“The government has no plans, or never has had plans, to revise the treaty or the treaty settlements that we have worked so hard to achieve. We will honour the treaty,” he said during the opening of his address.

It was a representative of the Māori king, senior leader Rahui Papa, who told the same gathering that Māori would not tolerate any changes to the treaty.

“We will pull every lever that we possibly can,” he warned.

“We implore you, no, we insist that you heed the call of Māori.”

Ms Ngarewa-Packer said Māori would fight to protect its principles, something New Zealand’s Indigenous people believe grants them sovereignty.

“We are here for the long game,” she said.

“We have to remind ourselves, we have done this before. Same book, same play, same players, just a different year.”

Bill ‘may be highly contentious’: memo

New Zealand is governed by a centre-right, three-party coalition.

And it is one of the minor coalition parties that has openly campaigned on a referendum to clarify the treaty principles and would seemingly not budge on steps towards one in coalition negotiations.

So, despite securing just 8.6 per cent of the overall vote in the recent national election, the right-wing libertarian ACT Party and its leader David Seymour are set to introduce a bill that Māori fear would have the potential to alter New Zealand’s founding document.

The prime minister has made it very clear the drafting of that treaty principles bill is fulfilling a promise made to the ACT Party during coalition negotiations, not a National Party policy.

“Our position has been very clear, we’re going to support a treaty principles bill to select committee and there’s no commitment to go further,” he said.

A draft bill is yet to be seen, but recently a document prepared by the Ministry of Justice that offered advice to various government departments was leaked to public broadcaster TVNZ and another Māori Party co-leader.

The legal memo contains previously unknown details about what any treaty principles bill might include.

In one leaked screenshot, it notes that the bill proposes “three new principles based on the articles of the treaty”.

Most notably, it would replace references to Māori with “all New Zealanders”.

New Zealand’s public broadcaster TVNZ, which obtained the full legal document, reported the memo contained the following statement:

“The bill will also 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.

“This is not supported by either the spirit of the treaty or the text of the treaty.”

Mr Luxon said he had to make a compromise to form government, but his party believed a referendum on treaty principles would be “divisive and unhelpful”.

But the discussion about a possible, albeit extremely unlikely, referendum on the treaty is not the only concern for Māori.

And Mr Luxon has defended other changes, including disbanding of the Māori Health Authority and removing the use of Maori language in the public service, saying “Māori went backwards” under the previous Labour government.

“We are here because we want to make sure all New Zealanders do well, I want to see Māori thriving in this country, I want to see non-Māori thriving in this country,” he said.

Luxon to face legal challenges  

If Māori believe a government action is in breach of the rights afforded to them in the Treaty of Waitangi, they can make a claim to a tribunal or the High Court of New Zealand.

These are also the institutions that can deal with questions of treaty interpretation.

The findings of the tribunal are not binding; those made by the court are.

But the Waitangi Tribunal is a way for Māori to formally challenge government decisions and there have already been several claims made against the Luxon government’s reform agenda.

At least one of them has been accepted by the tribunal and will be heard with urgency.

Natalie Coates, a partner at Kahui Legal, a firm that specialises in Māori issues, said there were a number of challenges happening at the moment.

“The Waitangi Tribunal is a commission of inquiry effectively that’s set up to investigate and report on any treaty breaches that the Crown may or may have not done and so that’s a forum that’s currently being utilised, and a number of claims have been made in that particular forum,” she said.

“But there’s also, as I understand it, a High Court claim there has also been made, and I suspect that’s one of a number that will follow if the government continues on its current path.”

Ms Coates said the claims covered a number of issues.

“So, ranging from challenging what the government is doing in the health space, for example, which is abolishing the Māori Health Authority that the previous government had set up. That’s been accepted for urgency,” she said.

“But there’s also a number of other steps that they’re taking in relation to language, as well as possible legislation that seeks to rewrite Te Tiriti Waitangi (the Treaty of Waitangi) — our founding document.”

As well as political and legal pushback, the Māori King Te Arikinui Tūheitia Paki has met with Mr Luxon over his reform agenda.

Since 1858, Aotearoa has had a single Māori king, an institution designed to unite all Māori tribes under one leader and consolidate political power and influence.

King Tūheitia has been the Māori monarch since 2006 and at his national hui over the weekend, he told the 10,000-strong crowd: “Today, I started something new.”

“This is just day one. Our time is now.

“By turning up, we’ve sent a strong message and that message has been heard around the world.

“The best protest we can do right now is be Māori, be who we are, live our values, speak our reo (language), care for our mokopuna (younger generation), our awa (rivers), our maunga (mountains).”