Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Act’s David Seymour differ on if they have different views on Treaty

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Act leader David Seymour appear to hold different views on whether they hold different views about the Treaty of Waitangi.

Luxon this morning said he believed the Treaty was “akin to a partnership” between the Crown and iwi, and that his Government would continue approaching Treaty issues in that context.

Seymour, the future deputy prime minister, told RNZ last week the idea the Treaty was a partnership was based on a misinterpretation.

This afternoon, Seymour claimed the view he held was consistent with Luxon’s and questioned why the media couldn’t understand it.

“Actually, the Prime Minister has said it formed a relationship akin to a partnership... what I don’t agree with is what Jacinda Ardern said that it forms a partnership between races where people end up getting treated differently based on their ancestry.

“So actually, if you start to understand what both of us are saying, they’re actually compatible and consistent.”

However, Luxon acknowledged the pair thought differently about the Treaty when asked if he believed he and Seymour had a fundamental difference of opinion on the matter.

“Sure, we’re in a Coalition Government and there’s three parties that make that up. They all have, we all have, slightly different views,” Luxon responded.

“We’re aligned on the core but my point is there are different views around the Treaty, our views very clearly in the National Party that it is actually, as I said, akin to a partnership.

“You can disagree with that but that’s our view.”

Luxon said he and Seymour had had conversations about it but reiterated how they were both focused on delivering the Government’s 100-day plan.

On Friday, Luxon released a statement confirming Seymour as an Associate Justice Minister so he could manage his Treaty Principles Bill, created by Act with the aim of redefining the Treaty’s principles.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters lead the government delegation onto the marae at Rātana Pā. Photo / Mark Mitchell

National and Act agreed to the bill in their coalition agreement, however, National had only guaranteed support through to the select committee stage. Luxon had thus far been non-committal on whether National would support it into law.

Act’s original proposal included a referendum once the bill passed through the House. Luxon had been clear he thought a referendum would be unhelpful and divisive.

The bill, expected to be first debated about May, was regularly cited as one of several proposals from the Coalition Government of concern to Māori. An estimated 10,000 from iwi across the country gathered at Tūrangawaewae Marae 10 days ago, at the Māori King’s request, to discuss Māoridom’s approach to the proposed policies.

Those concerns were expressed to Luxon at Rātana last week by Māori leaders. Seymour did not attend Rātana but is expected at Waitangi where he was likely to receive strong challenges from Māori.

Labour’s Willie Jackson said the coalition leaders’ different views on the Treaty were “very confusing” and raised questions over how far the bill would progress.

“I think it really puts a question mark over the Government because here we have a prime minister saying that they don’t agree with where [Seymour] is going, next minute they give him a promotion.”

Jackson suspected Luxon’s position had been informed by his National Party predecessors and legal experts, while he claimed Seymour was dismissing the “most celebrated judges and legal people in New Zealand history who made that assessment that the relationship was akin to a partnership”.

“Seymour just needs to get his head around it that he’s out of sync with his Prime Minister.”

On Seymour’s reception in Waitangi, Jackson said he expected an emphatic one.

“I’d be worried if I was him that his relations will give him a real hurry up,” Jackson said of Seymour, who is of Ngāti Rēhia descent which is a hāpu near Waitangi.

Adam Pearse is a political reporter in the NZ Herald Press Gallery team, based at Parliament. He has worked for NZME since 2018, covering sport and health for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei before moving to the NZ Herald in Auckland, covering Covid-19 and crime.