The Haps

We are back after a week off. The Government is going full steam ahead with ACT’s Ministers and ideas. The ‘need not race’ cabinet circular is an important milestone, it tells the public service to look at the whole person when allocating resources, not just their ethnicity. Brooke van Velden’s well publicised changes to contract law are a boon for all those who want certainty about whether they’re a contractor or an employee.

On a very happy note, the beleaguered Country Kindy in Manawatu was finally fully relicensed after some gentle Ministerial encouragement for the Ministry to work with the centre to find a solution. On Friday, it will be ten years since David Seymour was elected to Parliament. Free Press is in awe of his achievements and thanks readers for their ongoing support of Seymour and the ACT team.

 

Milestone for the Treaty Principles Bill

The Treaty Principles Bill took a big step last week. Cabinet signed off on the policy, so that the Government’s legal drafters can write the wording of the bill. It also outlined the timing of the bill, when it will be introduced to Parliament (November), then debated and sent to Select Committee for submissions and reported back for further debate (May).

This week Free Press takes a look at what Cabinet decided, what it means, and why it’s important to the future of our country.

Cabinet agreed to the following paragraphs as guidance for the lawyers doing the final drafting of the Treaty Principles Bill.

1. Civil Government: The Government of New Zealand has full power to govern, and Parliament has full power to make laws. They do so in the best interests of everyone, and in accordance with the rule of law and the maintenance of a free and democratic society.

A straightforward assertion that the Crown really is sovereign, thanks to the Treaty, despite what Chris Hipkins says.

2. Rights of Hapū and Iwi Māori: The Crown recognises the rights that hapū and iwi had when they signed the Treaty. The Crown will respect and protect those rights. Those rights differ from the rights everyone has a reasonable expectation to enjoy only when they are specified in legislation, Treaty settlements, or other agreement with the Crown.

Everyone has the same rights, including hapu and iwi. The rights of hapu and iwi differ… only when...specified. It acknowledges that the Treaty was signed by hapu and iwi to protect their rights, and makes clear all people in New Zealand now have the same rights. It also accepts that future Governments can, and probably will, make policies that give hapu and iwi some rights that are different. The critical thing is they won’t be able to rely on the Treaty to do that.

For example, there will be Treaty settlements in the future. The real meaning of this paragraph is that it will be the conscious choice, and political responsibility, of future politicians. They won’t be able to say ‘we’re doing it to honour the principles of the Treaty’ because these principles give all people the same rights.

3. Right to Equality: Everyone is equal before the law and is entitled to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination. Everyone is entitled to the equal enjoyment of the same fundamental human rights without discrimination.

Perhaps the most important part of the Treaty, we all have the same rights and duties, ngā tikanga katoa ritē tahi. It’s a reminder of how lucky we are to live in a country founded on a voluntary agreement that says we’re all equal.

Now Parliament’s drafters will turn these paragraphs from the Cabinet paper into legislation. Then the final wording will be visible for all to see.

That will be introduced to Parliament in November and reported back in May. Then it may be debated in Parliament again, or it may not. Other parties may vote it down, or they may have to follow John Maynard Keynes’ advice, as Winston Peters has hinted (Keynes said when the facts change, I change my mind).

At that point, enormous progress will have been made. The Treaty and, by extension, New Zealand’s constitutional arrangements will be democratised. They will have gone from a mystical document owned by a minority of public servants, lawyers, and self-appointed experts to something all citizens have a stake in.

Currently, the Treaty is a ‘partnership between races’. By May, it will be something many more people understand promised each of us the same rights and duties – a subject of open debate amongst people who equally own their future.

New Zealand will be maturing from a constitutional oddity based on a ‘partnership’ between different types of citizens to a place of equal rights for all citizens.

Making that step will make further steps possible in the future. Few big improvements in politics happen in one go. Someone this week shared the example of William Wilberforce’s first anti-slave trade Bill. It was introduced in 1791, and passed in 1807. Slavery was not completely abolished in Britain until 1833. It wouldn’t have happened without the first bill, though.

The Treaty Principles Bill may or may not pass, but the idea of equal rights will never fail.


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