Treaty Principles Bill - have you submitted yet?

Just 5 days to go! Here's mine.

Chris Slane, courtesy The Listener.

Hardly a day has gone by since summer started without me thinking ‘I must get on to writing my submission on the Treaty Principles Bill’. But of course I didn’t. This morning I woke up, noted the date (2 January), and decided today was the day! Fortunately it was not swimming or lying-around-in-the-hammock weather so no excuses really.

I am sharing my submission - not because it is a masterpiece (it’s not) - for the most part there is very little original thought, and I am merely citing the wise words of others. But because even if it prompts one person to write theirs, then I will be happy!

If you haven’t already, and like me have been procrastinating, remember these things:

• Your submission need not be long - in fact the more concise the better!

• You don’t need to be an expert (I’m certainly not) - speak from the heart and cite others whose views you respect.

• State clearly that you oppose the bill. Do not leave this to nuance. (For good measure I have stated this twice, just in case they miss it the first time.)

• Ask to speak to your submission. Often select committee members do not read submissions or skim over them. If you speak to your submission you will know that you have maximised the likelihood of being listened to. You can do this in person or online, or if you really can’t make it then you can decline.

• And here is the link to the submission page.

So here is my submission. Not a work of brilliance (it doesn’t need to be). Written in about an hour while eating my muesli.

Submission on the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill

My name is Catherine Knight. I have a Doctorate and Master’s Degree from the University of Canterbury, and a Bachelor’s degree from Tezukayama Gakuin University, Japan. I am an Honorary Associate at the School of People, Environment and Planning, Massey University, and an established, award-winning author, who has published five books on Aotearoa New Zealand’s environment and history.

I have read the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill. I understand its content, and most importantly, I understand its intent.

I oppose, in the strongest possible manner, the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill and its intent.

The bill is one of the most egregious examples of law-making this country has ever seen. It is a stain on our nation, which has to date boasted a relatively open, uncorrupted democracy.

The Waitangi Tribunal has stated that if the bill were to be enacted, it would be the ‘worst, most comprehensive breach of the Treaty/te Tiriti in modern times’ and could mean the end of the Treaty itself if left unrepealed. The Tribunal also found that ‘the Crown’s process to develop the Bill has purposefully excluded any consultation with Māori, breaching the principle of partnership, the Crown’s good-faith obligations, and the Crown’s duty to actively protect Māori rights and interests. The Tribunal also found this policy process to be in breach of the principle of good government, as Cabinet has decided to progress the Bill despite it being a policy that is not evidence-based, has not been consulted upon, and fails regulatory standards’. The Tribunal’s report and a summary statement can be read here.

Forty-two members of the King’s Counsel, some of New Zealand's most senior legal minds, have stated that the bill ‘seeks to rewrite the Treaty itself’ and in a letter, called on the Prime Minister and the coalition government to act responsibly and abandon it. The letter can be read at this link.

The Māori Law Society has called the bill ‘an act of bad faith and deep dishonour’ and also called on the government to abandon it. A link to its letter here.

Most recently, representatives of more than 80 Māori iwi have written to King Charles over concerns about this bill and the coalition government’s ‘attack [on] Tiriti o Waitangi and the rights of our whānau’. The letter requests his intervention ‘to ensure that the government does not diminish the Crown's honour’ and in light of grave concerns about long-term damage to Māori and to the Crown-Māori relationship. Such a pan-Māori request for Crown intervention is unprecedented in modern times and not only brings shame on this government but New Zealand as a whole. The letter can be read at this link.

In supporting this bill, the government has also ignored its own departmental advice on this bill. The Ministry of Justice’s Regulatory Impact Assessment states that ‘the policy is not consistent with the Treaty/te Tiriti. Similarly, the Waitangi Tribunal found that the Treaty Principles Bill policy is unfair, discriminatory, and inconsistent with the principles of the Treaty, contrary to the article 2 guarantee of tino rangatiratanga and will be significantly prejudicial to Māori.’ The full Ministry of Justice disclosure statement can be read at this link.

I fully understand the intent behind the bill, which is to strip away the last remaining protections for the rights of Aotearoa New Zealand’s indigenous people and to undermine the partnership between the Crown and Māori, which is the foundation of our country. But this is merely the means to an end. The end game is to remove what has been a powerful barrier to the sustained assault on our natural heritage and environment, clearing the way to unfettered environmental exploitation for corporate gain, asset sales and the full privatisation of public services not considered as ‘core government functions’. In other words, a programme to achieve the smallest possible government as consistent with the extremist neoliberal agenda being pursued by this coalition government.

The claim that agreement to the bill’s introduction was a necessary compromise that National had to make to form a government (as claimed by the Prime Minister in various interviews, including this RNZ coverage) is cynical, disingenuous and shamefully dishonest. Irrespective of whether the National caucus supports the bill past its second reading, it has served as a highly effective smokescreen for the coalition government’s calculated programme to remove or amend the general Treaty clauses from 28 existing laws, thereby systematically weakening the standing of the Treaty in key legislation. The full list of laws and their relevant provisions can be viewed at this link.

That Members of Parliament from the National Party have found themselves complicit in this destructive and deliberately divisive assault on our founding constitutional document, the partnership on which our society has been able to lay its foundations, will no doubt prove to be a source of enduring embarrassment – a taint on recent National governments’ achievements in progressing the Crown-Treaty relationship in good faith.

In conclusion, and to reiterate for avoidance of doubt:

I oppose, in the strongest possible manner, the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill and its intent.

I wish to be speak to my submission.