Labour leader Chris Hipkins doesn’t seem interested in giving just Māori automatic citizenship if they are born overseas, saying a case before the Waitangi Tribunal highlights instead an “issue for all New Zealanders”.
He’s also distanced himself from more comments from Te Pāti Māori MP Takuta Ferris. Te Tai Tonga’s MP posted on Instagram on Wednesday morning that “there are only two types of constitutional rights in Aotearoa”.
“NZ Citizen, and Tangata Whenua. Which one are you?” Ferris wrote.
Hipkins said he disagreed with Ferris’ point, saying standards of citizenship should apply to all New Zealanders.
The Waitangi Tribunal is currently considering a claim brought by John Bryers Ruddock, the descendant of a signatory of Te Tiriti o Waitangi whose great-grandfather was an All Black.
Ruddock was born in in Australia, meaning he received citizenship by descent. People with citizenship by descent cannot automatically pass that on to their children if they, too, are born overseas. That means Ruddock’s children (born in the United States) don’t have New Zealand citizenship.
Ruddock, who has moved back to New Zealand, believes it’s “unconstitutional” his children don’t have citizenship and argues the Citizenship Act 1977 breaches Te Tiriti by failing to protect Māori citizenship rights.
“This right is intrinsic to the exercise of tino rangatiratanga,” his claim said. “Without citizenship, the ability of Māori overseas to exercise tino rangatiratanga over their whenua [land] and way of life is impaired in certain circumstances.”
His case at the Waitangi Tribunal is seeking for the legislation to be amended to “properly reflect the status of Māori as tangata whenua and the Crown’s te Tiriti obligations”, as well as an apology.
Actress Keisha Castle-Hughes is among those who have submitted, sharing her own story of facing barriers to getting her children citizenship.
Asked whether Māori should receive automatic citizenship, Hipkins instead said the case was highlighting an issue for “all New Zealanders born overseas”.
“We have a very large New Zealand diaspora overseas,” he said.
“There will be tens of thousands of New Zealanders born overseas who are potentially now having kids of their own, where they’ll be coming and going from New Zealand, and it’s clearly highlighted a flaw in our law around recognising their right to citizenship. I think that is something that we need to look at.”
Hipkins said it was for the Waitangi Tribunal to consider the situation for Māori and he wouldn’t tell the tribunal what to find, but said this was a “broader issue for the country”.
“We should be making sure that the law around citizenship caters for all New Zealanders.”
The legislation empowers the Internal Affairs Minister to grant citizenship. Brooke van Velden said she wanted to be careful not to discuss a matter before the Waitangi Tribunal.
“I think it’s really important for us to fix what actually matters here and that is the timeliness of the citizenship office because I think that underpins what people are concerned by,” van Velden said.
She said when she became minister, it was taking 11 months for somebody’s file “to even be opened within the citizenship office”. That’s down to two months, she said.
“That’s where I’m focusing my efforts, so everybody, no matter what ethnicity or background they are, has an ability to get good, timely access to citizenship.”
Van Velden said she wouldn’t be opening up the Citizenship Act for changes.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon opposed any such change to New Zealand’s citizenship pathways and dismissed the suggestion that the current legislation, written in 1977, needed a refresh.
“I think it should be the same rule for everyone. The issue is before the tribunal and I’ll let them make their own deliberations, but what I’m just saying to you is that all New Zealanders should be treated equally with regard to our citizenship,” Luxon said.
Deputy Prime Minister and Act leader David Seymour bluntly stated Castle-Hughes should “stick to whale riding” and the focus should instead be placed on increasing the pace of the current citizenship process.
His comment is in reference to Castle-Hughes’ Oscar-nominated performance in the film Whale Rider, released in 2003 here.
“When some people try to say, ‘I have different rights as a New Zealander because my ancestors got here at a different time’, that’s what I’m opposed to,” Seymour said.
NZ First deputy leader Shane Jones cited the well-established Māori communities in Australia as he expressed sympathy for those “wanting to come back and have their whakapapa [genealogy] and heritage recognised in New Zealand”.
He questioned whether the debate related to Jews attaining Israeli citizenship, which is open to children and grandchildren of Jews under the Law of Return.
Pressed for his view, Jones reiterated “they’re always going to be Māori”, before deferring to the tribunal. “Let’s wait and see what the Waitangi Tribunal advises the Crown.”
Jones’ deference to the tribunal is surprising, given his regular criticism of its decisions and his opposition to its existence, which has drawn the ire of Attorney-General Judith Collins.
Asked why he felt it necessary to wait for the tribunal’s decision, Jones proclaimed, “I have been schooled by Judith Collins yet again”, before walking away.
But his leader, Winston Peters, didn’t think Māori should receive automatic citizenship.
“Of course not and nor do all Māori think that either ... in my view, the Waitangi Tribunal would have no authority of constitutional or legal powers to make such a decision,” Peters said.
Jamie Ensor is a political reporter in the NZ Herald press gallery team based at Parliament. He was previously a TV reporter and digital producer in the Newshub press gallery office. He was a finalist this year for Political Journalist of the Year at the Voyager Media Awards.