Over 300,000 Submissions for Contentious Race Bill Causes NZ Parliament Website to Crash

The Treaty Principles Bill, which seeks to ring-fence the influence of the Treaty of Waitangi on law and policy, has triggered nationwide protests.

People attend a protest criticising the government for its policies toward the Indigenous Maori population outside the New Zealand Parliament in Wellington on May 30, 2024. Dave Lintott/AFP via Getty Images

The deadline for New Zealanders to comment on the controversial Treaty Principles Bill has been extended by a week after the volume of submissions caused the parliament website to crash.

Initially, it was thought to be a DDOS (distributed denial of service) cyber attack, but it turns out, the majority of people left their submissions until the last two days—resulting in 300,000 over a 48 hour period.