Dunedin lawyers and King’s Counsels Anne Stevens, Royden Somerville and Anita Chan joined 39 other KCs in co-signing a letter urging the government and Prime Minister Christopher Luxon to abandon the Bill.
Spear-headed by Act leader David Seymour, the Bill seeks to define the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi. However, Act’s coalition partners, National and New Zealand First, have only agreed to support the Bill to its first reading.
In the letter, addressed to Mr Luxon and Attorney-general Judith Collins, lawyers said the Bill was a "wholly inappropriate as a way of addressing such an important and complex constitutional issue, particularly one which so profoundly impacts on indigenous rights".
Mrs Stevens said the Bill was legally unsound and failed to consider Māori as Treaty partners.
"[The Treaty is] a part of our fabric and you can’t change one part of a treaty without the engagement of the other party," she said.
"It is to cause disharmony."
Mr Seymour was exploiting the public’s ignorance and prejudice about Treaty affairs, she said.
"It’s outright deceptive. He’s acting like he’s not fiddling with the Treaty."
While it was uncommon for so many KCs to have co-signed a letter, it was their role as senior counsel to speak up, Mrs Stevens said.
"We are appointed ... by the Monarch because we are the leading members of the legal profession in New Zealand. It would be appalling if we were silent in the face of this."
It crushed her to see Mr Seymour "perpetrate this evil Bill" and it was "hypo-critical" for Mr Luxon to have thought he could shirk responsibility by only pledging support up to the Bill’s first reading.
"By even advancing this horse, you are saying it’s a runner," she said.
"[It is like saying] ‘I’ll push this pile of muck forward, but I’ll hold my nose’.
"How does that help? The damage is done."
Mr Seymour said in a Facebook post yesterday that KCs opposed the Bill because it "gives everyone a say, even if you’re not a King’s Counsel".
"Until now, unelected judges, lawyers and public servants have decided what the Treaty means. That’s how we’ve ended up with divisive policies focused on ancestry."
Dr Somerville said he was concerned about the impact on New Zealand’s constitution.
"I signed because I’m concerned about [the Bill’s] significant implications for our constitutional law."
