NZ Leader Rejects Separate Race-Based Laws in Lead-Up to Key Meeting

Ahead of New Zealand’s national day, Waitangi Day, on Feb. 6, the coalition party has made its strongest statement yet on government-Māori relations.

ACT leader David Seymour speaks to media on his way to the house following the State Opening of Parliament in Wellington, New Zealand, on Dec. 6, 2023. Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images

On the eve of the annual commemoration of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, the ACT party has laid out its position on relations between Māori and the Crown, saying it doesn’t believe it amounts to a partnership between races.

“ACT stands for the mana [dignity] of the individual, the right to live life as you choose so long as you are not harming others. Put another way, ACT has championed tino rangatiratanga, or self-determination,” wrote party leader David Seymour in an op-ed in NZ Herald.