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.

“You might think leaders in Māoridom would welcome a party willing to beat back the overreaching state and promote tino rangatiratanga. Those who recognise that it is Māori who’ve had the worst of most social statistics would be the most enthusiastic supporters of change.”

He claimed many Maori do support the party, and pointed out that three of its 11 MPs were of Māori descent, including himself.

“So why do we hear so much criticism of ACT from Māori leaders? ACT’s cardinal sin is that we see the Treaty as affording the rights of tino rangatiratanga to all New Zealanders, not only those who are Māori.

“If the Treaty affords rights, it should afford the same rights and duties to all. In fact, that is exactly what the Treaty’s third article says,” Mr. Seymour said.

2 Versions, Different Interpretations

The conflicting interpretations of the Treaty is due to the fact that there are two versions—an English version and a Māori language version translated by Henry and Edward Williams.

The vast majority of chiefs present at Waitangi in 1840 signed the Māori version, with only 39 signing the English version.

There are several fundamental differences of meaning between the two texts, most notably concerning the understanding and translation of the terms sovereignty, kāwanatanga (broadly, governorship), and tino rangatiratanga. There is widespread disagreement as to exactly how these terms affect the Crown-Māori relations.

Mr. Seymour defended ACT’s own interpretation of the text.

“Those who (wrongly) accuse ACT of ’rewriting the Treaty‘ or ’messing with the Treaty’ need to remember the partnership principle is a relatively new invention,” he said.

“It is only in the past 40 years that ‘partnership’ has emerged. In that time, a combination of the Waitangi Tribunal, the courts, and the public service have been reinterpreting the Treaty as that partnership.

“The logical conclusion is that some New Zealanders are in partnership with the Crown and others are not,” something Mr. Seymour characterises as “different rights based on ancestry.”

“The policy conclusion has included co-governance, a separate Māori Health Authority, and a public service with positions reserved for Māori on the basis that they are a Treaty partner.”

‘Universal Humanity Comes First,’ Says Seymour

ACT doesn’t support this interpretation because it believes “our universal humanity comes first, and race second.”

“No successful society has divided itself by race,” Mr. Seymour said. “That’s why ACT campaigned to end division by race last year. Our vision is a society that honours the Treaty as our founding document. Its principles should be defined to reflect what it says: That we all have the same rights and duties, we all have tino rangatiratanga.”

ACT went to the 2023 election campaigning for a national referendum on the interpretation of the Treaty.

As part of its coalition agreement with National and New Zealand First, ACT will receive government support during the First Reading of its Treaty Principles Bill, allowing it to go to a Select Committee for discussion. But Prime Minister Chris Luxon has made it clear that government support will not extend further than that.

The Bill would redefine the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi, which would then be confirmed through a referendum.