Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says he has been clear National won’t support the Treaty Principles Bill past select committee.
Speaking to media after giving a speech at Rātana Pā, Luxon said there was a “range of views and feelings and people are free to express it”.
“I want to hear that. That’s why I’m here,” he said.
“There is no commitment to supporting it past first reading. I don’t know how to be any clearer.
“The position of the National Party: no intention, no commitment, it’s not a policy we support,” he said.
Luxon said iwi leaders understood the Government wouldn’t support the bill past first reading based on what they had told him in recent meetings
Earlier he told the Rātana celebrations the Government will honour the Treaty.
Luxon was speaking at Rātana Pā, where MPs were welcomed at 11.30am today to celebrate the annual Rātana Church celebrations commemorating its founder.
The event in Whanganui is also considered the unofficial beginning of the political year.
After a brief mihi, Luxon spoke in English and thanked his hosts.
“The Government has no plans to amend or revise the treaty or the treaty settlements…the Government will honour the treaty.”
"I stand before you today as PM and leader of the National Party, the party of Apriana Ngata."
On te reo Māori, Luxon said National had originally supported the establishment of Kohanga Reo and how many young people at Rātana would be speaking the reo fluently.
“I only wish that I could do the same.”
He spoke of how some felt “embarrassed and lost” by not understanding te reo and Luxon said that was important to recognise. His main point was about how the Governemnt would achieve better outcomes for Māori.
The Government cared deeply about people and Luxon said showing it was important, not just talking about it.
It is a legal right of all New Zealanders to speak te reo.
“The Government know many Māori are doing it tough, many New Zealanders are doing it tough,” Luxon said while saying he was passionate about affording New Zealanders equal opportunity.
"We care deeply about people but actually show it and get things down and not just talk about it.
Rātana Pā is also a rare chance for Māori to address politicians directly - and it holds extra weight this year, following a national hui in Waikato last weekend.
Some 10,000 people answered the Māori King's call to gather for a unified response to government policies affecting Māori and Te Tiriti o Waitangi including a bill that seeks to redefine the Treaty principles.
Key priorities identified at the hui will continue to be discussed at Rātana.
Luxon arrived early this afternoon with MPs from his party, National. Joining them were members of coalition party NZ First including leader Winston Peters, but other partner Act including its leader David Seymour would not be attending. Te Pāti Māori MPs were welcomed onto the marae on Tuesday.
Hipkins criticised the government for having an agenda to take New Zealand backwards, scrapping the Māori health authority, limiting the use of te reo in the public service and rewriting the Treaty of Waitangi.
He said the coalition government’s policies would “encourage, foster and enable racism” and that it “should be called out for what it is”.
"Let's take the Treaty Principles Bill, for example. Even if [National] is saying they will withdraw support for it, that's still government legislation," and said the select committee process would be "ugly".
"The process will certainly embolden racism," he said.
"When David Seymour speaks, when Winston Peters speak, they are speaking on behalf of the government.
"Christopher Luxon needs to take responsibility for what his government is saying," Hipkins said.
"The role of political leaders should be to speak unity. Fear of the unknown, uncertainty around the future of Crown-Māori relationships always bubbles around. The goal is to not play to that, but to fix divisiveness.
"I still believe the arc of human history bends towards progress - that doesn't mean that there won't be blips along the way, and certainly I think we're going through one at the moment."
Hipkins said his speech was political, when Rātana usually tried to stay away from politics, because he was following the lead of speechmakers before him.
He did accept that Labour, ousted in last year's general election, “didn’t get everything right” because it didn’t bring non-Māori with them. He pledged to “redouble efforts to do that”.
Hipkins headed the Opposition convoy from the Rātana Church, led by the famous Rātana band, to the marae. He walked next to Davidson, the pair chatted and laughed and they made the short journey to the marae.
Davidson urged Luxon to “listen to Māori” and “shouldn’t say much at all”.
She claimed the coalition - and in particular Act leader David Seymour - were “appealing to the worst of us” through their proposed policies, which include the bill that sought to redefine the Treaty principles.
Yesterday Luxon said he was aware of the challenges he’s set to face from Māori leaders at Rātana amid growing concern about how the government’s policies could affect Māoridom.
Luxon will address leaders at Rātana Pā in Whanganui today as part of the annual Rātana Church celebrations, which included the opportunity for church and iwi leaders to converse with politicians about Māori issues.
The event is taking place only days after more than 10,000 people converged on Tūrangawaewae Marae in Ngāruawāhia for a national hui, organised by the Kīngitanga, on some of the Government’s proposed policies regarding te reo Māori and Te Tiriti o Waitangi, including stripping Treaty references from legislation and downplaying the importance of te reo in the public service.
Māori King Kīngi Tūheitia issued a message of hope that Māori could unify and protest by living Māori values, but did issue a strong condemnation of the proposed Treaty Principles Bill, which aimed to redefine Treaty principles.
The bill, which had become a flashpoint for Māori at the hui, was created by Act and guaranteed support by National through the House only until the select committee process. Luxon hadn’t clarified whether National would support it further.
Some of the kōrero that emerged from Saturday’s hui included claims accusing the government of being underpinned by white supremacy, something echoed by Te Pāti Māori leadership, and which Luxon rejected outright.
Luxon yesterday said his experience at Rātana last year and several visits to Waitangi had prepared him for what could be tough conversations.
“That’s my observation, is that’s the place where we should have challenging provocation and stimulation and that’s okay.”
Despite the hui prompting strong concern about his government’s policies, Luxon said it hadn’t changed the message he would be sending today.
“My message will be actually sort of laying out where we’re coming from as a government and how we want to work and partner with Māori to deliver improved outcomes.”
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi was confident Luxon and other government representatives would face strong challenges in kōrero from Māori leaders, but would also be respected.
“Manuhiri [visitors] on the marae at Rātana and Tūrangawaewae have always treated people with respect,” Waititi told the Herald.
“I know there will be courageous kōrero on the marae and that’s where courageous kōrero should be."
Waititi, co-leader and Rātana morehu (follower) Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and others from Te Pāti Māori were welcomed onto Rātana Pā yesterday alongside Kīngi Tūheitia and representatives of the Kīngitanga.
Waititi yesterday explained it was intended to show the party’s “realignment to the mana motuhake [self-determination] space”.
“The Treaty was signed between tangata whenua and the Crown and so this is the realignment of our political waka to our mana motuhake space and allowing us to be the manifestation of the journeys of our people within a kāwanatanga [government] space and the representation of mana motuhake within a government or a kāwanatanga space.”
Party leaders, alongside their public speeches, would also have private meetings with Rātana and iwi leaders.
Te Taepa Kameta, spokesman for Rātana tumuaki (president) Manuao Te Kohamutunga Tamou, wasn’t surprised by the enormous crowd in Ngāruawāhia on Saturday, and Rātana Pā to be busy this week.
“At the end of the day, when you poke the taniwha enough, the taniwha is obviously going to wake.
“I think by touching Te Tiriti o Waitangi [te reo version of the Treaty], something that we were all so passionate about, I think they have gone and awakened the taniwha.
“It’s a matter of sitting down with the three-headed beast, and I’m talking about the Government here and the three leaders, to sit down and to have these types of discussions with them so that we were able to move forward in the best way possible for everybody.”
- NZ Herald and RNZ
