Chris Lynch
Chris Lynch is a journalist, videographer and content producer, broadcasting from his independent news and production company in Christchurch, New Zealand.
A South Island hīkoi leader has described the Treaty Principles Bill as “white supremacy”.
In an interview with chrisylynchmedia.com, on Tuesday night, Teresa Butler reflected on the bill which prompted the hīkoi that drew tens of thousands to Wellington.
“It’s a colonising action that wants power, control and money. They don’t hear about the taiao, they don’t hear about our people, or future aspirations for our grandchildren, for our mokopuna.”
Butler described the hīkoi as a historic and unifying moment. “It felt like over 50,000 people showed up. We walked past a police officer who said it was way over 30,000. It felt like a whole lot of history has come forth.
“It felt like we shouldn’t be doing this right now. It’s 2024. Check yourselves – when was the last hīkoi ? What, 40 years ago? And here we are again.”
Butler said, “The police were smiling. We had gang members out there with their patches on, handing out food, singing waiata, walking with us and just having a really good time.”
Butler was scathing about Seymour’s actions during the hīkoi. “We all stood there and thought, who is he waving to? We’re not your supporters. Then he decided to say to us, as the protesters, ‘I want to have a proper conversation.’ This is a clear indication that none of these people want to have a proper conversation with New Zealanders. Everything Māori do is a negative to him.”
She said the bill disregards Māori history and whakapapa. “When you put everyone else’s rights on the same playing field as tangata whenua, it takes away our whakapapa. It’s like he wants our tīpuna’s aspirations and whakaaro to be completely wiped.
“He wants to forget about that, shove it under the carpet and restart. No. Because again, it’s all about power, money, and control.”
Butler also pointed to Seymour’s vision of a “level-playing field” as deeply flawed.
“When we have whenua lands that people want to build on, we have a process that, as Māori, we go through, karakia, getting hapū and mana whenua on board – because they are the people of the land who understand how it all works. Seymour doesn’t want that. He wants people to come in, do what they want and disregard tangata whenua.”
She compared the bill’s implications to an act of personal violation. “It’s like coming into someone’s house, taking their keys and saying, ‘This is mine now.’ That’s what this bill represents to us.”
Butler said the hīkoi was just the start. “Tino Rangatiratanga is keeping everybody together. It’s educating everybody about Te Tiriti, about He Whakaputanga, about the history of Aotearoa. And it’s making sure that those who don’t understand are educated, and those who are educated share it with their whānau.”
“Today was a clear statement to David Seymour – thank you for bringing us together. The next one will be even bigger.”
The bill proposes the following principles:
- Principle 1: The Government of New Zealand has full power to govern and Parliament has full power to make laws. They do so in the best interests of everyone, and in accordance with the rule of law and the maintenance of a free and democratic society.
- Principle 2: The Crown recognises the rights that hapū and iwi had when they signed the Treaty/te Tiriti. The Crown will respect and protect those rights. Those rights differ from the rights everyone has a reasonable expectation to enjoy only when they are specified in Treaty settlements.
- Principle 3: Everyone is equal before the law and is entitled to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination. Everyone is entitled to the equal enjoyment of the same fundamental human rights without discrimination.
The overarching objective of the bill is to define what the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi are in statute to:
- create greater certainty and clarity to the meaning of the principles in legislation
- promote a national conversation about the place of the principles in the country’s constitutional arrangements
- create a more robust and widely understood conception of New Zealand’s constitutional arrangements, and each person’s rights within them
- build consensus about the Treaty/te Tiriti and New Zealand’s constitutional arrangements that will promote greater legitimacy and social cohesion.
This article was originally published by Chris Lynch Media.
