Wellington, New Zealand (AP)-New Zealand legislators dealt on Thursday a overwhelming defeat against a controversial proposed law seeking to redefine the founding treaty of the country between the Maori tribes and the British crown.
THE Principles of the Waitangi Treaty Bill was rejected by Parliament during a vote from 112 to 11 in Wellington, stopping its progress to a third and last vote. Acclamations and applause broke out before the legislators and the public singing a Waiata – a traditional Maori song – after the announcement of the result.
The reinterpretation of sweeping of the 1840 treaty signed by British representatives and 500 Maori chiefs during the colonization of New Zealand should never become law. But the measures caused a difficult debate on indigenous rights and last November Protest of the greatest racial relations in the history of the country.
But his defeat did not explain the end of the examination of the rights of the Maori in New Zealand law.
What is the treaty of Waitangi?
The treaty guides the relationship between the government and the Maori, with its meaning established through decades of legislation and court decisions. He promised tribes of great rights to keep their land and protect their interests in exchange for famous governance to the British.
But two versions of the document were signed – one in English and one in Maori – and although the two promise Māori the rights and privileges of British citizens, the documents differ on the authority that the chiefs yielded. The violations of the crown of the two created a bad pension for the Maori, which are still faced with struck inequalities.
Since an indigenous protest movement jumped in the 1970s, conventional considerations have been an increasing part of the New Zealand law. Repair efforts have strengthened a decreased maori language and culture – now resurface – And has resulted in $ 1 billion colonies for stolen Maori lands.
What does the bill on the principles of the Treaty say?
The bill has sought to end the 185-year conversation on the meaning of the treaty by adopting particular definitions for each clause and specifying that the rights should apply to all New Zealanders. Its author – The libertarian legislator David Seymour, who is Maori – has decried what he said to be special rights and privileges on the basis of the breed.
In his speech to legislators on Thursday, Seymour said that New Zealanders should all have “the same rights and duties”.
He urged legislators outside his party to break the ranks and approve the bill. None did it.
What did the opponents say?
The chief of the parliamentary opposition, Chris Hipkins, castigated the bill as “a task on this country” and accused his supporters of spreading “the myth of the special Maori privilege”. He quoted the disadvantage of Maori on almost all metrics – including higher poverty rates and poor health and lower life expectancy.
The Waitangi Treaty “does not concern racial privilege or racial superiority,” said the opposition legislator Willie Jackson. “It is and has always been on the legal rights that the Maori have in their contract with the crown.”
Parliament has received 300,000 written observations from public members – more than a proposed law has ever received before – 90% of them opposed to the measures.
“This bill was absolutely wiped out,” said Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke, an opposition legislator from Te Pāti Māori, the Maori political party.
MaiPi -Clarke faces disciplinary procedures in Parliament for her protest of the first vote of the bill last November, when she tore a copy of the measures while making a haka – a Maori challenge – while she and her colleagues were heading for Seymour. The legislators refused to attend an audience on their conduct this month because they declared that the Parliament does not respect Tikanga – Maori cultural protocols.
Why did the measures go so far?
Despite its unpopularity, the proposed law adopted its first vote due to a quirk of the political system of New Zealand which allows the tiny parties to negotiate a disproportionate influence for their agendas.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon agreed that his legislators would approve the bill at first reading to conclude a political agreement with Seymour who presented Luxon Power. Without enough seats to govern after the 2023 elections, Luxon negotiated the support of two minor parties, including Seymour, in exchange for political concessions.
They understood Luxon’s early support for the bill on the principles of the treaty, although the New Zealand leader has always said that he would oppose it later. Luxon’s opponents turned his political relations on Thursday.
What happens next?
The bill on the principles of the treaty was Not the only measurement Luxon agreed who will examine the influence of the Treaty on the law and New Zealand policy. Another of Seymour’s initiatives, already promulgated, has ordered public agencies to stop targeting policies to specifically repair maori inequalities.
Luxon has also agreed to consider and replace or repeal the mentions of the Waitangi Treaty in most New Zealand laws.
