Audrey Young is the NZ Herald’s senior political correspondent. She was named Political Journalist of the Year at the Voyager Media Awards in 2023, 2020 and 2018.
OPINION
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Welcome to Inside Politics in what has been a huge week in politics and the largest march to Parliament in living memory. I’ve never seen anything like it. It took two hours from the time the march first turned into Lambton Quay from Willis St to when the end of it rounded the corner. That sounds like at least 50,000 and it certainly looked like it. Thank god for the discipline of the marchers, because so squeezed were they inside and outside Parliament grounds that any unexpected surge would have seen people crushed.
The march has been dismissed in some quarters as being a politically motivated recruitment drive for Te Pāti Māori. That is about as shallow as people suggesting David Seymour’s Treaty Principles Bill is a recruitment drive for Act. It completely underestimates its effect.
The bill has enabled Te Pāti Māori to recruit a new generation of Māori to drive the Māori sovereignty movement for generations to come. Exactly where that will lead is unknown but, without a doubt, it will lead to change in the exercise of power in New Zealand.
As NZ First’s Shane Jones observed, the protest has “tapped into a sense of anxiety within Māoridom that their rights, their identity are being imperilled. So we’ve got to work very hard to ensure that ... we’re not doing anything to invalidate Māori identity.”
The suggestion that the Treaty of Waitangi is unchanged by the Act bill is a myth. It is true that the bill does not alter the wording of the 1840 documents – how could it – but its intention is to change the way the Treaty is interpreted by the courts and the Waitangi Tribunal. The effect of the second clause of the bill is to protect Māori rights at 1840 only if they have been incorporated into Treaty settlement legislation. The purpose of the bill is to give the Treaty a new interpretation. Instead of changing the way partnership has been manifested by various Governments, it would get rid of the concept of partnership, which was established in case law in 1987.
The bill, of course, will be voted down at its second reading in May, with only the support of Act. However, what became clear this week from justice committee chair James Meager is that public submissions on the bill are going to be finished by the end of February. That means even if the bill survives for six months in the parliamentary pipeline, its public exposure will be limited.
I was in the House a week ago watching from the Press Gallery when Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke rose to her feet to begin a haka instead of casting Te Pāti Māori’s vote against the bill’s first reading, and the public galleries joined in. She was named and suspended for a day. Party co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer got very close to David Seymour’s desk and there is no question it was a breach of privilege and should be referred to the Privileges Committee. Privileges are the powers, rights and immunities that allow MPs to conduct their parliamentary business without interference.
The effects of Ngarewa-Packer’s actions were no different to Julie Anne Genter’s actions when she towered over Matt Doocey shouting and waving papers – they were intimidating, whether that was their intention or not. But there is no need to overreact to what happened unless it becomes a common occurrence. It should be treated as an exceptional action which, under the rules of the House, results in a censure motion.
She could then do what she wanted with that: either apologise, as have Genter, Jan Tinetti and Tim van de Molen in recent times, or follow Winston Peters’ example and effectively give the House the middle finger, as he did when the Privileges Committee censured him for failure to disclose a donation by Sir Owen Glenn in his pecuniary interests register. The rules of the House do not need to be changed unless it is a recurring problem. There is no evidence of that.
The Speaker has been in an especially grumpy mood since last week’s haka. He banished the Press Gallery from covering Tuesday’s protest from the parliamentary forecourt, despite allowing MPs and parliamentary staffers there.
National has finally got its way and installed Richard Chambers as Police Commissioner, coinciding with the ban on gang patches and giving police the power to issue non-consorting orders and dispersal notices to gang members gathering.
National politicised the role in an unprecedented way by effectively campaigning against Chambers’ predecessor, Andrew Coster, while in Opposition. National’s Justice and Police Ministers, Paul Goldsmith and Mark Mitchell, have not made Chambers’ job any easier, however, in setting high expectations for him.
Goldsmith yesterday in the House: “Gangs have for some time been able to behave as if they were above the law with minimal consequences while peddling misery in our communities. As of tomorrow, the time is over.”
Mitchell yesterday: “The coalition Government promised a gang crackdown; tomorrow, that will be in full force.”
“What has happened here today, the Māori nation has been born” – Hīkoi mō te Tiriti organiser Eru Kapa-Kingi on Tuesday.
“The reality here is Pandora’s box has been opened” – Labour leader Chris Hipkins on the hīkoi.
“We are not going to concede or yield to these separatists, these people who spew an anthem of hate against other people” – Winston Peters during yesterday’s general debate.
Richard Chambers was yesterday named as Police Commissioner to replace Andrew Coster. Who did Andrew Coster replace? (Answer below.)
Goes to David Seymour for suggesting Dame Jenny Shipley had taken as much care with her comments on his Treaty Principles Bill as she had reviewing accounts at Mainzeal. He called for a debate on the bill, only to abuse her for saying why she opposed it.
Goes to Green Party MP Teanau Tuiono for shepherding the Citizenship Western Samoan Restoration Amendment Bill through Parliament last night which, by unanimous vote, restores citizenship to up to 5000 Samoans born between 1924 and 1949.
Hīkoi mō te Tiriti: The explosive political aftermath of the Hīkoi mō te Tiriti was on full display in Parliament on Wednesday, with accusations and warnings hurled by Te Pāti Māori and New Zealand First.
Hīkoi mō te Tiriti: Up to 50,000 protesters joined the Hīkoi mō te Tiriti as it marched on Parliament on Tuesday – triple the numbers of the 2004 Foreshore and Seabed protest.
OPINION - House haka: Parliament is set to consider changing its rules following Te Pāti Māori’s haka in the House. Thomas Coughlan looks at the arguments for and against.
Citizenship bill: The Citizenship Western Samoa Restoration Amendment Bill has passed its third and final reading in Parliament with unanimous support.
Child wellbeing: Child Poverty Reduction Minister Louise Upston has promised a focus on a child’s first 2000 days as part of a new Child and Youth Strategy.
Family support: The number of families receiving one of the main Working for Families tax credits is down more than 25,000 since the Covid pandemic.
Red tape tipline: The Ministry for Regulation has launched a tipline allowing the public to report their red tape “horror stories”.
OPINION - Treaty bill: National has moved to reassure its base as disquiet grows over its response to the Treaty Principles Bill, writes Claire Trevett.
Infrastructure: The Government is still struggling to build infrastructure on time and on budget, a new Treasury stocktake shows.
Quiz answer: Mike Bush
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