Read more<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\nThe man who has catapulted the treaty to the top of New Zealand’s political agenda is David Seymour \u2013 the leader of the right-wing libertarian ACT Party, one of the NZ government’s coalition partners. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He is currently pushing the treaty principles bill which, he says, will ensure all New Zealanders have “the same rights and duties”. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But tribal and community leaders, as well as M\u0101ori MPs and protesters who fought for Indigenous rights as far back as the 70s, are calling for the government to throw it out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The treaty was signed by M\u0101ori chiefs and representatives of the Crown in 1840 on the grounds of Waitangi. And this place has always served as a forum for protest, discussion and to pay respect to those ancestors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many M\u0101ori see the proposed bill as rewriting the founding document of New Zealand, something that underpins M\u0101ori claims of sovereignty.<\/p>\n\n\n\nTe KuraHuia said she was proud to be among her people in Waitangi today.(ABC News: Daniel Irvine)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n“We’ve been fighting for this treaty for a very long time. Why are we fighting for something that [P\u0101keh\u0101] made to have a relationship with us?” Te KuraHuia, from Te Whanganui a Tara, Wellington, told the ABC in Waitangi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We should be walking this talk, and actually we should have been doing that a very long time ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“[Everyone is here] because we believe in what you guys have created with us, it’s a relationship, it’s a partnership.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We are being M\u0101ori, this is what we do, we come together \u2026 and if this looks like a threat to anyone, I don’t know why, because all I see is love \u2014 for people, for one another and the culture and for what we are fighting for, the treaty of Waitangi.”<\/p>\n\n\n\nThousands of M\u0101ori crossed the bridge to Waitangi for today’s events.(ABC News: Daniel Irvine)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nPrime Minster Christopher Luxon has refused to kill the draft bill, saying only that his party will support it until its first reading as a condition of their coalition agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He has repeatedly said it is not the Nationals’ position to change the treaty. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The treaty debate has dominated political discussion in recent months, and momentum has been building in the lead-up to the Waitangi Festival, where on Monday those politicians were confronted by M\u0101ori warriors, tribal elders, representatives of the M\u0101ori king, activists, lawyers, artists and thousands of others who travelled to the Bay of Islands as a show of strength.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pointed comments at Waitangi Day dawn service<\/h2>\n\n\n\n With Mr Luxon and Mr Seymour on stage during a dawn ceremony on Tuesday morning, P\u0101keh\u0101 historian and theologian Alistair Reese delivered a powerful reflection. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Turning towards the country’s leaders, he said the treaty was about far more than politics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“What does love have to do with real politics? According to our creator’s instructions, everything,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Not many of us will know that Waitangi began as a love story. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The chiefs gathered to discuss among themselves the crown’s proposals. They were joined by the missionary Henry Williams, the translator and the mediator of the treaty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“<\/strong>[Williams told the chiefs]: ‘This is Queen Victoria’s act of love to you. She wants to ensure that you keep what is yours, your property, your rights and privileges, and those things that you value.’<\/p>\n\n\n\n“As a result of the interchange that night, the treaty was signed the next day.”<\/p>\n\n\n\nPeople gathered for the dawn service at Waitangi.(ABC News)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nDr Reese warned that an interpretation of treaty without love “leads to a distorted vision, it leads to an arid legalism”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“It’s time to honour the treaty and unequivocally restore its mana,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When Mr Seymour stepped to the microphone, the mood stiffened. He told the gathering the treaty was for everyone, a nod to his messaging that the treaty was not a partnership between M\u0101ori and the crown and should suffice all New Zealanders \u2013 ideas M\u0101ori oppose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Let us pray for all of New Zealand \u2026 those whose people have been here for nearly a thousand years and those who will arrive in Auckland this morning to begin their time as New Zealanders,” he told the crowd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Let us celebrate sincerely great successes that our neighbours achieve, and let us help effectively those who suffer great setbacks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“And let us do all of this under the founding document signed here at Waitangi that gives each and every one of us that same right to flourish in the ways that we choose, to reach our potential, and be the best we can be for all New Zealand.”<\/p>\n\n\n\nThousands gathered for the dawn sevice outside Te Whare Runanga.(AAP: Ben McKay)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nCrowd not afraid to heckle, boo, drown out leaders<\/h2>\n\n\n\n There was a lot of anticipation ahead of this Waitangi, with speculation there could be a return of the protests of the 80s and 90s. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the political tensions did not spark into anything more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There have been impromptu and guerilla protests and installations, some of them artistic, all of them focused on the message that M\u0101ori will not accept any moves to change the Treaty of Waitangi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And despite that being the overwhelming concern for so many at Waitangi, for the most part, the prime minister did not address the issue of the treaty. <\/p>\n\n\n\nM\u0101ori activists have been marching south towards Waitangi since the weekend.(NZ Herald via AP: Ala Wailala)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nOn Monday, politicians were invited into a powhiri, or meeting, at Waitangi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At one point it looked as if the prime minister would not address the gathering, but once the crowd settled down, Mr Luxon began to speak, saying:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Every nation’s past isn’t perfect. But no other country has attempted to right its wrongs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“This Waitangi Day, I renew this government’s commitment to helping all New Zealanders, M\u0101ori and non-M\u0101ori, get ahead.”<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe prime minister addressed crowds ahead of Waitangi Day, dismissing suggestions he should throw out the ACT Party’s bill.(NZ Herald via AP: Michael Cunningham)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nIn a press conference later in the day, he again dismissed suggestions he should throw out the bill now and shut down the debate, saying his coalition partners were entitled to have their views.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mr Seymour is of course one of those partners, but Winston Peters of NZ First is the other. He is also the current deputy prime minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mr Peters was booed by the crowd after he told them to “get an education” and “get some manners”.<\/p>\n\n\n\nProtesters heckled Winston Peters at a gathering ahead of Waitangi Day.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe worst of the heckling though was reserved for Mr Seymour. And then before he was finished speaking, the crowd drowned him out by singing a song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“You can sing, you can sing, you’re not going to beat an idea by singing,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And even before entering the powhiri \u2014 or welcoming ceremony \u2014 he was challenged by a group of kaiwero (warriors). The prime minister and Mr Peters were each challenged by one kaiwero.<\/p>\n\n\n\nKaiwero or warriors performed a haka after arriving on the beach to commemorate Waitangi Day.(Getty Images: Fiona Goodall)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nIt was expected that the three men would have an uneasy time at Waitangi \u2014 Mr Seymour in particular \u2014 and while there was some heckling, so many in attendance were there to listen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
What they heard from their political leaders was very much more of the same, but they insisted the fight would go on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This h\u012bkoi was Wetini Mitai-Ngatai’s first to Waitangi. He said M\u0101ori people had always resisted, and they came together to resist again on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“One good thing about our people, wh\u0101nau \u2014 family. Secondly, we stand up for our rights. We fight anybody no matter how big the folk. And that’s what it’s all about, standing together,” he told the ABC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We’ve all come from different tribes, united here, \u2026 [with] one thought: to stop the government in what it’s doing \u2014 taking away our reo, our language, taking away our tikanga, customs, and trying to change the treaty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“They can’t tamper with it, they have no business with that treaty, that is the founding document.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By\u00a0Emily Clark\u00a0in Waitangi, February 5, 2024 More than 1,000 people have marched into the treaty grounds at Waitangi on New Zealand’s north island \u2014 the culmination of a week-long protest against a controversial government bill. The h\u012bkoi made the journey across the bridge into Waitangi \u2014 a historic crossing for the resurgent M\u0101ori protest movement. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1001004,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15177"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1001004"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15177"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15177\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15182,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15177\/revisions\/15182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}