“Every child born in New Zealand, and every legal immigrant, has the same rights. Those are the rights of a citizen. Nobody should get an extra say because of who their great grandparents were. Nobody should have to be treated differently because of who they are,” says ACT’s Justice spokesperson Nicole McKee.
“Every child born in New Zealand, and every legal immigrant, has the same rights. Those are the rights of a citizen. Nobody should get an extra say because of who their great grandparents were. Nobody should have to be treated differently because of who they are,” says ACT’s Justice spokesperson Nicole McKee.
“Since ACT first announced we would have a referendum on co-government, almost 27,000 people have signed our petition in support.
“In Australia, the Labor Government is putting relatively mild proposals for changes to the constitution to a referendum, after it also campaigned on the issue. Here, much more sweeping constitutional change is being pushed through, Labour didn’t campaign on these changes and New Zealanders aren’t getting a say.
“ACT proposes that the next Government pass legislation defining the Principles of the Treaty, in particularly their effect on democratic institutions. Then ask the people to vote on it becoming law.
“This is what we did with the End of Life Choice Act, Parliament passed the law and the people ratified it at referendum.
It would define the Principles of the Treaty as.
1. The New Zealand Government has the right to govern New Zealand.
2. The New Zealand Government will protect all New Zealanders’ authority over their land and other property
3. All New Zealanders are equal under the law, with the same rights and duties.
“The great promise of New Zealand is that everyone’s equal. For generations people have travelled long distances to give their children a better tomorrow in this little country where everyone gets an equal chance.
“Labour is trying to make New Zealand an unequal society on purpose. It believes there are two types of New Zealanders. Tangata Whenua, who are here by right, and Tangata Tiriti who are lucky to be here.
“The Clerk of Parliament notified a new referendum in the name of Simon Lusk. This referendum asks: “Should New Zealand implement a form of co-governance where 50% of elected representatives to Parliament and local authorities (including community boards and local boards) be elected by voters of Māori descent, and 50% by non-Māori?”
“ACT welcomes any initiative that brings co-government out into the open for public debate. We encourage people to support this petition. However, we also note that the petition would lead to a non-Binding referendum and would not address the problem of interpreting the Treaty in a modern context.
“For these reasons, ACT’s Treaty Principles Act and subsequent binding referendum would still be necessary even if this petition and referendum were to succeed.
“No society in history has succeeded by having different political rights based on birth. Many New Zealanders came here to escape class and caste and apartheid.
“All of the good political movements of the past four hundred years have been about ending discrimination on the basis of race, religion, sex and sexuality to treat each person with the same dignity. We are the first country in history that’s achieved equal rights and has division as its official policy.
“It’s time for honest and bold conversations. ACT exists to do more than just win office and hold it. We want to equip New Zealand with the best policies in the world. We stand for real change.”
ACT has launched a petition that can be found at: www.act.org.nz/treaty
ACT's Democracy or Co-Government policy paper can be found here.