As the Justice Select Committee reviews its final oral submissions for the Treaty Principles Bill, lawyer Annette Sykes referenced American Rapper Kendrick Lamar’s song ‘Not Like Us.’

The SuperBowl halftime performance by the rap artist earlier in February highlighted the rift between African Americans and the US government.

Sykes, speaking not as a lawyer but as a “treaty activist”, said Lamar’s sentiments reminded her of those who supported the coalition agreements between National, Act, and NZ First - unlike the academics and past politicians who had spoken at the committee before her.

“[Kendrick Lamar] called out to the American population to reject people who are not like us.

“I’m urging this select committee to reject those individuals that stand behind this minority party, the Act Party, to promote an ideology of supremacy over the ideology of kindness, of mindfulness, of mutual respect, of dignity, which is entrenched in Te Tiriti itself.”

Outside after her submission, Sykes told Te Ao Māori News she came in person to show people her anger wasn’t out of hatred.

“It’s an anger born of love for a document, which set peaceful co-existence for this nation and I want that to remain as the future of our nation.

“I also wanted to remind those minority parties that have the arrogance to believe that they can change constitutional principles the way they are proposing. That is, I think, foolish on their part, it’s extremely arrogant but more fundamentally it will not be tolerated.”

‘It’s the culture, stupid'

Former National MP, Ruth Richardson spoke in support of the bill. She started off speaking about her time in parliament back in the 1990s as the Finance Minister looking after the economy.

She referenced the slogan “It’s the economy, stupid” coined by US political strategist James Carville in 1992, saying there is a new rival to it in 2025 which is “it’s the culture, stupid”

“There is a new imperative in New Zealand on the cultural front, the necessity to correct or to address and correct treaty overreach that has increasingly and evidently become wayward and wrong.

“It is a proper use of statutory power to spell out in law the set of principles that are designed to govern the conduct of treaty policy,” she said.

She stated the idea of ‘partnership’ was created by the courts and was not referenced in the Treaty.

“Which in recent times has become a platform for policy that is driven by separatism and for policy that trashes democratic norms.”

In Richardson’s counter-argument for those opposing the bill, she said they’re upset cause parliament is creating a legislative of treaty principles.

“But wait a minute, apparently it’s okay for the courts to do this but not the parliament, what nonsense.

“Parliament is the supreme legislative authority, the courts cannot and should not legislate from the bench.

“My charge is that parliament has been missing in action as the whole treaty industry overreach has evolved and gathered steam. This bill restores to parliament to its rightful place and should give the electorates some comfort that the treaty overreach by the courts, the Waitangi Tribunal, and officialdom will not continue unchecked.”

‘It’s lies, it’s disinformation'

During Former Stuff Journalist Carmen Parahi’s oral submission, she mentioned the words used by the coalition government, which she believed separated Māori and everybody else.

“You use these terms, some people call it dog-whistling, to ensure the population believes that Māori are demanding to be treated differently.

“Kei te he tera, that is completely wrong, it’s lies, it’s disinformation, and because we have a population that is ignorant about te Tiriti o Waitangi, you are able to use this word ‘difference’ to ensure that you separate Māori from the rest of the population.”

She added Māori didn’t need the Treaty it was the Crown.

“The Crown needed it to be able to control the population. We did not need the treaty, the crown did and all the settlers that came after. That’s why it’s everyone’s treaty, it gives everyone rights.”

On behalf of her whānau, Parahi told the committee the story of her 17-year-old child asking her “Does the government hate us?”

“That question hurts then and it hurts now.

“She was afraid of what the government would do to her, to us as Māori,” Parahi said emotionally.

Outside the committee, Parahi told Te Ao Māori News Gen Z were feeling less than non-Māori kids.

“This is a condition, our lost generation felt back in the 50s, when we lost our language and culture was the same environment back then as it is now.

“We can not go backwards, we have progressed for the last 50 years and we need to keep moving forward.”