Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has made his first public comments about the demise of the Treaty Principles Bill after it was voted down in the House yesterday.
Speaking in Hamilton, Luxon said it has been a “tumultuous period” with the bill, but it’s now done.
Despite “all the tension and stress” around the bill, Luxon said he has met with iwi to discuss the programme of work the Government wants to focus on.
He also ruled out supporting something like the Treaty Principles Bill in the future, adding it is the reality of the MMP environment that something like the Treaty Principles Bill got to this stage.
“It is over and we are moving forward,” he told media.
He doesn’t regret not being in the House and instead focusing on trade issues.
Luxon was absent from Parliament yesterday as MPs debated the bill, which had hung over the coalition parties since it was agreed as part of their legislative agenda after coalition negotiations following the 2023 election.
The bill, which proposed a referendum on redefined Treaty principles, caused an uproar within Māori communities who feared a dilution of rights afforded under the Treaty of Waitangi. Tens of thousands marched to Wellington in protest last year, understood to be the biggest protest Parliament has yet seen.
In their coalition agreement, National and NZ First agreed to support Act’s bill through to the select committee stage. Amid the strong public backlash, National’s position on the bill morphed from not guaranteeing further support to promising to vote it down when it returned to the House for its second reading.
As expected, Act was the only party to vote in favour of the bill yesterday afternoon. Party leader David Seymour later promised Act was likely to take another Treaty-related policy to the 2026 election.
Luxon said his absence from the House yesterday was caused by a scheduling conflict, claiming he needed to be in Auckland yesterday for a series of engagements.
He spent his time speaking to world leaders about the global trading environment in the light of United States President Donald Trump’s tariff scheme that caused chaos in financial markets this week.
Luxon made calls to leaders including Philippines President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr, Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
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.