Willie Jackson has issued a stark warning about the potential backlash Act’s proposed Treaty referendum will likely generate should it go ahead.
Speaking on Q+A on Sunday morning, the Labour MP told host Jack Tame New Zealand would see civil unrest five to 10 times worse than the 1981 Springbok tour protest.
“... I’m nervous about what might be coming, you know, in terms of this nonsensical Treaty referendum. Let me tell you now Jack, if they try [to] push that through, it’ll be [the] ‘81 Springbok tour, civil unrest times five, times 10,” Jackson said. “I don’t think we’d be able to handle it or control it when I hear from our people.”
“Surely they aren’t going to do that after we used the system, after we went through the courts, after Māori mortgaged homes and their lives in terms of utilising the system and got victories, and now all of a sudden, they’re going to be able to manage it in this country - and I hope Mr Luxon and Winston [Peters] show a bit of common sense over this,” Jackson told Q+A.
Jackson was set to retire from politics on election night but says there’s much work to be done in opposition and someone must hold the incoming government accountable.
