Waikato-Tainui leader Tukoroirangi Morgan dismisses David Seymour as “a political idiot” in the latest episode of 30 with Guyon Espiner.
Morgan, a former broadcaster and politician, describes the ACT Party leader’s Treaty Principles Bill as “a nonsense”.
The bill proposes revisions to the interpretations of the three treaty articles, which would – amongst other changes – limit Maori co-governance arrangements included in Waitangi Tribunal settlements.
“You’ve got a political idiot here, who is trying to modernise a document that will make the 1840 signing a nullity,” Morgan says.
“It’s an attack on an agreement that was enshrined in a trusting way by those Rangatira in 1840.”
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has said the government is not planning to support the Treaty Principles Bill beyond the select committee stage but will not rule it out completely.
If the bill did go beyond a first reading, Morgan says the resulting protest action would be at a level “never seen in the history of this country before”.
“There are those of us who … will not sit still and remain idle,” he says.
“If this bill is passed, and it goes beyond the first reading, there’ll be hell to play, simple as that.”
RNZ
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