The Treaty Principles Bill has been laid to rest with every party besides Act shooting it down.
The debate started firey with a member of the public gallery starting a haka at the beginning of Act Leader David Seymour’s speech.
When everything settled, Seymour continued and tried to persuade other members of the house to vote in favour of the bill.
He took a shot at public servants, judges, and the Waitangi Tribunal during his kōrero.
“They say the treaty is a partnership between races, they say one race has a special place in New Zealand.
“The effects of these principles have become more and more obvious lately.”
He would go on to talk about the record submissions around this bill saying, “submissions were not a referendum”.
“If MPs believe that the bill should be passed depending on public opinion, they should front up vote for the bill and send it to an actual referendum, which is what the bill does.”
‘Grubby little bill, born of a grubby little deal’
Labour Leader Chris Hipkins spoke after. He called it a “grubby little bill, born of a grubby little deal”.
“This bill will forever be a stain on our country.”
Hipkins said National and NZ First would not get any credit for helping kill the bill.
“They get no credit for finally starting to fight the fire they helped to ignite.
“Their votes will fall on the right side of the ledger, but they will forever be on the wrong side of history when it comes to the bill.”
He continued to say that National MPs should not leave the chamber feeling good because “they led nothing, they stopped nothing, and they stood for nothing.”
‘The people are not fooled’
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson, the third speaker, referenced the record number of submissions around the bill, with the majority of them being against.
“I am so proud once again to highlight, the people have spoken, and they have spoken clearly and strongly.
“The people are not fooled by the act party trying to ignore the injustice and inequity,” she said.
She acknowledged the passing of Hinewhare Harawira, who was labelled “an unstoppable force in the drive for Tino Rangatiratanga”.
The bill ‘is a crude way to handle a very sensitive topic’
Speaking for National, Paul Goldsmith stated everyone already knew the bill wasn’t going to go through as National never supported the bill.
“We regard the bill, which seeks to impose a particular interpretation of the treaty of Waitangi by single majority and referendum, is a crude way to handle a very sensitive topic.”
He would go on to defend his party against what Hipkins said about how National let it get this far.
“That is just froth and spray, coalitions require compromises.
“Our country is not so fragile that we cannot stand a debate about the role of the treaty.”
‘The last thing this country needs’
Casey Costello spoke on behalf of NZ First, with its leader being on a plane.
She stated the party didn’t support the bill due it creating a cycle of new governments creating new treaty principles.
The NZ First MP said that the piece of legislation would’ve taken them back into he courts which was “the last thing this country needs”.
“It is plain wrong to take the responsibility of determining the role of Te Tiriti o Waitangi from the highest court of the land to the judiciary.
‘Basic rights - not privilege’
Te Pāti Māori MP Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke said she would choose not to speak about the bill in her speech, but instead how the house only recognised “one partner, one culture, one language from one treaty”.
“When will the rules of this house acknowledge the laws of this land?
“That is the real question of privilege here.”
She said it wasn’t stopped; it was “annihilated” with 90 percent of those submitting against the bill.
“So, where to next? These past two years have been completely about survival. This next chapter needs to be about steps to thriving, and our roadmap to our next destination has never been so clear.
“Our job for the next few months will be to create bills, policies, and legislation to remove significant that disallow Māori from accessing their basic rights - not privileges.”
‘I was fighting for my life in select committee’
Green MP Tamatha Paul called the bill an “emotional roller coaster”.
She took jabs at National and NZ First for saying they don’t support the bill but yet voted for it in the first reading.
Paul was part of the select committee hearing the oral submission, a job she “was fighting for my life” in.
“I remember very intense conversations, even amongst opposition parties, because there is more than one way to skin a cat and there is more than one way to kill a bill.
“But we all knew this needed to go in the bin.”
Everyone’s submissions were read
Former Chair of the Justice Committee, James Meager, stood to reassure the public that every single submission had been read by someone.
“I would encourage anyone out there interested in this process to read the departmental report.
” It is rich in information and rich in content and reflects the incredibly hard work done by the ministry officials."
‘Race-baiting political stunt’
Labour MP Willie Jackson said the bill highlighted the worst and best parts of Aotearoa’s democracy.
“This race-baiting political stunt has been a right-wing obscenity masquerading as equity.
He said the coalition government should be ashamed.
Jackson was once again kicked out of the house after his speech for calling Seymour liar, with this time it being his own words and not quoting someone from the hīkoi.
‘Very testing and quite emotionally taxing’
Tākānini MP and Justice Select Committee member Rinma Nakhle says the National Party will not support the Treaty Principles Bill.
“The National Party strongly asserts that a referendum on the Treaty would be a simplistic approach to a very, extremely complex and challenging issue. And today we voting it will go no further.”
She added that the process had often been “very testing and quite emotionally taxing.”
Addressing the party’s coalition partners, Nakhle said that “this is their strong view.”
Speeches of ‘vindication’ from National and NZ First ‘hard to swallow’
Labour MP, Cushla Tangaere-Manuel, said it was ‘hard to swallow’ with ACT’s coalition partners having vindication speeches.
“It’s been this National-led government that allowed this ugly monster to rear its ugly head in the light of day.”
She continued to talk about Seymour’s belief that Māori are given rights and privileges due to the treaty.
“Rights and privileges that through perseverance we have managed to maintain, that this bill sought to undermine and failed.”
Treaty debate to live on
National MP, Scott Simpson, said the treaty debate will continue past this bill’s death and even after the death of the sitting MPs.
“We don’t necessarily always agree, successive National governments have always worked on with Māori on treaty issues.
“So, the challenges that we face confront as a nation around the treaty are complex.
“It’s just not realistic to suggest that nearly 200 years of debate, discussion, protest sometimes, informed debate, education, and input from so many New Zealanders over all those years should be settled just with a stroke of one legislative pen.”
‘That is a shabby process’
Labour MP Duncan Webb called out the process in the select committee, with the Chair handing in the report 40 days early.
“That is a shabby process, but not as shabby as what the government has done, and the Prime Minister has done in letting this bill come to the house.”
He called it disrespectful to the Chamber for Luxon to say the bill won’t pass but allowing it to proceed.
“This Chamber’s time is valuable and there should be put before this house laws which are seriously being considered. Not flying up the flagpole.”
‘Kiwis do best when we are working together’
The final speech was heard from National MP Carl Bates, who spoke about the vision of his party.
“We want a thriving, united New Zealand, where every Kiwi enjoys equal opportunity and equal citizenship and takes pride in our shared future.
“Kiwis do best when we are working together, in a spirit of unity and of mutual respect.
“At the heart of our nation’s foundation lies the Treaty of Waitangi. The document that sets out the framework for the relationship between Māori and the crown,” he said.
‘Time for us to all move on’
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon was not in attendance as he was speaking with world leaders around trade and US President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Earlier in the morning, he told media, “Frankly, now it’s time for us to all move on”.
“What we have to do now, is actually move forward, and that is where we are facing economic upheaval. We’ve got some opportunities, and we’ve got some challenges to deal with in this country.
“We want to work together with iwi, I continue to work with iwi as you’ve seen on delegations and infrastructure summits, meetings I’ve just had this morning, really important.”
There were 11 ayes and 112 noes in the final vote.
