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Treaty Principles Bill Protest Lands On David Seymour's Electoral Doorstep
Protesters gathered outside the Auckland office of ACT Party leader David Seymour to oppose the introduction of the Treaty Principles Bill on Thursday.
The controversial Treaty Principles Bill was introduced on Thursday and it will be debated in parliament next week.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon will not be in the country during that reading.
About 100 protesters holding signs reading Honour Te Tiriti and 'SHAME' are marching through Newmarket, and started at ACT's Epsom Electorate Office.
They began with a rally in the middle of Gillies Ave, chanting 'Toitu Te Tiriti.'
The bill risks undermining Aotearoa's social fabric with erroneous interpretations of Te Tiriti, protesters told RNZ.
Associate justice minister David Seymour, who is responsible for the bill, said it would provide New Zealanders, rather than the courts and the Waitangi Tribunal, to have a say on what the treaty means.
"Did the Treaty give different rights to different groups, or does every citizen have equal rights? I believe all New Zealanders deserve to have a say on that question."
Small group gather at parliament
A group of about a dozen protesters also gathered outside parliament on Thursday morning to protest the introduction of the bill.
Zane Wedding of Ngāti Pikiao said the early introduction of the bill was a response of fear to the upcoming hīkoi, due to start on 10 November, and said this was just the start ahead of the march.
Seymour has said the bill's timing was normal.
Wedding said he rejected David Seymour's claim the bill is about ensuring equality of all people in New Zealand.
"What he is actually doing through the Treaty Principles Bill is to hand that mana, that power, over to the richest, over to the people, and to take away the voice of mana whenua and tangata whenua over their own whenua."
The Treaty Principles Bill being introduced in Parliament on Wednesday bill brings to life ACT policy to enshrine what the Treaty means into law.
The party has long argued the original articles have been interpreted by the courts, the Waitangi Tribunal and successive governments - over decades - in a way that has amplified their significance and influence beyond the original intent.
Māori leaders are furious at the introduction of the bill more than a week earlier than expected, calling the government's move "dishonourable".
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