“Kill the bill.”
That’s the simple message for Prime Minister Christopher Luxon that protestors intend to deliver this morning at a march on the Auckland office of the Act Party, whose leader David Seymour is spearheading the Treaty Principles Bill.
“The vibe of it is going to be incredibly positive, inclusive and sharing our aroha for the treaty,” United for Te Tiriti protest spokesperson, Bianca Ranson (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kahu ki Whangaroa), told Te Ao Māori News today.
“David Seymour is just stoking ignorance and division through manipulation with the Treaty Principles Bill. It’s deceptive and it’s not a true reflection of what Te Tiriti means.
“There’s a huge amount of concern from a range of different communities across Auckland.
“People were wanting to organise and come together to oppose the bill and to also share the message that Te Tiriti is what binds us as a nation.”
Hundreds are expected to join the protest starting at 11am at Act’s Newmarket office, which will be followed by a march through the central Auckland suburb’s busy business district.
“Today will also be an expression of the many, many tangata tiriti that are coming out. We have many of our Pākehā, tauiwi, non-Māori community coming out.
“As well as those who are directly impacted in many ways from our Pasifika whānau, to our Palestinian communities and our urban Māori that live within Tāmaki.”
Ranson says the group is intent on changing the narrative.
“The significance of going to Newmarket is that it’s within David Seymour’s electorate of Epsom and so his constituents have voted for him, which essentially means that they’ve voted for this bill.
“We’re going there to change the narrative and to highlight that this kind of race-baiting and division that’s being stoked by a small group of people in this country, it does not reflect what the majority of people want.
“Christopher Luxon has a duty to show the leadership that the country needs to head forward in the right direction and not create this division and instability of the social fabric of our nation.”
‘Absolutely dishonourable’
The protest action is an immediate response to what Māori leaders have labelled the “dishonourable” conduct of the coalition government in introducing the Treaty Principles Bill to Parliament today, a week ahead of schedule, with the first reading a week later.
Some leaders are describing this as a deliberate attempt to avoid the national hīkoi set to begin next week.
“When the government announced it would be introduced into parliament two days ago, lots of different organisations and communities across Auckland came together to respond.
“So I think what this demonstrates is that people are incredibly organised and motivated and agile and able to respond at very short notice, and that’s what we need.”
Ranson says the government is running scared and being “absolutely dishonourable” with the bill’s early timing.
“We know that this has been timed deliberately.
“It’s also a way of undermining the hīkoi, which planned to arrive in Pōneke on the 19th, which is the time when the bill was supposed to be introduced.
“That just signals to us that the government is scared that the pressure is building.
“But all that this has done through undermining the hīkoi and just continuing to show a lack of integrity and leadership is that it’s building us.
“It’s building our power. It’s building our momentum. It’s getting us organised, and we are agile, and we will respond as the government makes these changes,” she says.
“It is dishonourable, and it’s also dishonourable when we hear Christopher Luxon can kill the bill.
“He’s saying that he needs to uphold his responsibilities to his coalition agreement, which is by introducing this bill and letting it go to first reading.
“I think his focus should be upholding his responsibilities to the document that this country is founded on, and show some integrity and show some real leadership for the future of the nation.”
The coalition government is attempting to “fast-track” the process, Ranson says.
“It’s an attempt to sneak it in at very short notice. It’s basically they’ve just completely fast-tracked the introduction.
“I think that it’s clear. The reason why is because they are fearful of the momentum and the power that has grown with the hīkoi.”
Legislation regularly ‘bounces around’ - Luxon
The prime minister, who will not be at Parliament when the bill is read for the first time next week because he will be travelling to the Apec Summit in Peru, told RNZ legislation regularly “bounces around”.
“The decision was made on Monday through the cabinet process. We wanted to also inform the Waitangi Tribunal and give them advance notice acting in good faith.
“The reality is legislation bounces around all the time. There’s nothing different or special here.”
Seymour said the bill “hasn’t actually been brought forward,” according to an RNZ report.
“This is happening all the time as people get policy decisions, get papers through cabinet, to get time in the House and so on. There’s a lot of reasons why introduction times for bills move so frequently.
“They [the Waitangi Tribunal] asked for a date, we gave them a date, the date changed - and now this idea that it’s been brought forward has become a storyline but is really much ado about nothing.”