OPINION
There is an ongoing debate that is certain to heat up in the next year around the Treaty principles. These are perhaps going to be put up for a vote but, if they are not, ACT is still likely to make the next election itself a referendum on them, arguing for more seats in the coalition to give them the bottom line they want.
The problem with the Treaty of Waitangi is that it’s a product of 19th-century liberalism. Hobson was told to get a treaty that would give Britain sovereignty over the land and thus keep the French out, take charge of land purchases to head off the New Zealand Company’s plan for an independent capitalist state, and generally make the British feel good about protecting the native people while assimilating them into the global Anglican empire.
