Labour leader and former prime minister Chris Hipkins has put ACT leader David Seymour on blast, saying he “knows exactly what he is doing” with the Treaty Principles Bill.
Speaking in a Te Ao Māori News special broadcast this morning, Hipkins, struggling against the sound of the crowd behind him, was in high spirits, jokingly pointing out the “hīkoi hasn’t actually arrived yet” despite an estimated 4,000 people gathered behind him.
He said he didn’t think the Treaty Principles Bill was a positive way to discuss Aotearoa New Zealand’s constitutional arrangement.
“This is a debate that is designed to divide the country. It’s designed to be a lightning rod for racism, for anger, for fear, for division, and we think New Zealand is a better country than that. We think we should be bringing the country together rather than creating an opportunity for people to be divided.”
He said he understood why many Māori had lost faith in the government, laying out a laundry list of policies the coalition government had implemented, including the closure of the Māori Health Authority, the changes to section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act, and now the Treaty Principles Bill.
“David Seymour has done this deliberately. He knows exactly what he’s doing. National and New Zealand First unfortunately have signed up for that.”
The latter two parties have maintained they’ll shoot down the Treaty Principles Bill after a select committee process but have faced criticism for allowing it to get this far as a result of their coalition agreement.
Seymour advised not to speak
All the way through, David Seymour has defended his proposed changes to how the government legally interprets te Tiriti o Waitangi, saying it’s about ensuring equality.
“The Treaty Principles Bill delivers on the Treaty’s original promise of the same rights and duties for all,“ Seymour said earlier this month.
Earlier, 1News political editor Maiki Sherman spoke to Seymour saying he was advised not to front at today’s crowd by Te Pāti Māori.
“I would love nothing more than to go out and be given a microphone and put the case to the people who are gathered.
“I’ve actually spoken, for example, [Te Pāti Māori co-leader] Rawiri Waititi and said, ‘Would you give me that chance?’ and he said ‘I wouldn’t advise it, it’s your choice but I wouldn’t advise it’, so that to me sounds like a no.
“I’ve publicly said I would like to go and talk to them, but they’ve said ‘oh no we don’t want to talk to him because he can’t speak te reo Māori, therefore, he can’t understand the Treaty. Well 95% of New Zealanders don’t speak te reo Māori, so I think that’s a little unfair,” he told 1News.
His bill, which features three new principles by which the treaty should be interpreted, has been panned as being based on a translation of te Tiriti which was “deeply flawed” and failed “international translation ethical standards” by some of Aotearoa’s top reo Māori translators.