Te Pāti Māori MP proposes bill requiring MPs to learn about Te Tiriti: ‘This is how we need to move forward’

Parliament’s youngest MP has proposed a piece of legislation that, if enacted, would require MPs to learn about the Treaty and uphold its principles during their work as parliamentarians.

Te Pāti Māori’s Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke unveiled her first member’s bill on Tuesday to hundreds of protesters who had gathered outside Parliament in opposition to the Government’s policies affecting Māori.

Maipi-Clarke has officially lodged her bill in Parliament’s ballot, known as the “biscuit tin”.

When a member’s bill is drawn, it is introduced in the House and debated. Member’s bills don’t often pass and become law, but they can still have an impact.

Maipi-Clarke’s bill would require the Parliamentary Service Commission to develop a te ao Māori strategy. MPs would be required to uphold Te Tiriti / the Treaty and its principles, particularly to support the Crown with its relationship with Māori.

The bill would require MPs to be provided with training and development opportunities to ensure they engaged with Te Tiriti appropriately and understood Māori perspectives.

Te Pāti Māori MP for Te Tai Tonga, Tākuta Ferris, said the bill would require MPs to have a prior understanding of Te Tiriti before entering the debating chamber.

Te Pāti Māori MPs Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke and Tākuta Ferris at Parliament. Photo / Mark Mitchell

“At the moment anyone can become an MP and know nothing about Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the constitutional make-up of this place and history of the country.”

Maipi-Clarke said there was a “clear institutional problem” attributed to the lack of obligations on MPs to uphold the Te Tiriti / the Treaty of Waitangi while doing their work.

“This is an in-House problem. How is it that this House was built on Te Tiriti but it [Te Tiriti] was left outside the doors of the debating chamber?

“The fear is that we are too loud, that we are too loud, that we are literally rattling the foundations of this House. We have been kicked out of Parliament; there are no more places for them to kick us out of.”

Maipi-Clarke was seemingly referencing the recommended suspension from Parliament of seven days for her, and an unprecedented 21 days for her party’s co-leaders, Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, for their involvement in last year’s haka.

The Te Pāti Māori caucus: Te Tai Tonga MP Tākuta Ferris (left), Te Tai Tokerau MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi; Hauraki-Waikato MP Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke; Te Tai Hauāuru MP and co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer; Waiariki MP and co-leader Rawiri Waititi; and Tāmaki Makaurau MP Takutai Tarsh Kemp.

It is up to the House to decide to adopt the recommendations, which is expected at this stage given Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has said there was no chance of National making concessions.

However, proceedings to formalise or amend the punishment were abruptly adjourned on Tuesday when senior National minister Chris Bishop moved a motion for the debate to be adjourned.

Outside the House, demonstrators were holding flags and listening intently to a line-up of speakers, including lawyer Tania Waikato, who focused much of her speech on the Regulatory Standards Bill (RSB).

Supporters performing a haka at Parliament, Wellington. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Waikato said the bill was the “Treaty Principles Bill 2.0 – that’s all you need to know.”

She accused the Government of trying to move the bill through Parliament by stealth, saying: “They were hoping we would be too dumb, too busy ... to know what they were doing.”

The RSB would establish a set of good regulation principles that legislation would need to be assessed against. It would also create a board that could review complaints of non-compliant legislation.

She said this bill was “personal for me ... this is a threat to my son’s future”.

Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi speaking at a gathering at Parliament. Photo / Mark Mitchell

During a recent Waitangi Tribunal hearing on the bill, claimants expressed concerns the bill would establish a “control gate” that current and new legislation would need to pass through.

Maipi-Clarke said her member’s bill was a way for New Zealand to move forward as a country.

“It’s not left or right. This is the foundation of us moving together so that another generation doesn’t have to be locked outside of these doors ... so that another generation doesn’t have to be silenced.”

Julia Gabel is a Wellington-based political reporter. She joined the Herald in 2020 and has most recently focused on data journalism.