Ending divisive race-based policies

New Zealand is being transformed into a country where your rights depend on who your ancestors were.

New Zealand is at a constitutional crossroad. In one direction is liberal democracy, the familiar formula that the country as we know it was built upon. In the other direction is co-governance, a prescription of power sharing between one ethnic group and all others.

Labour is pushing its co-governance agenda through a range of laws:

• The Māori Health Authority means healthcare is being prioritised by race, not by need.
• The Three Waters reforms still include 50:50 co-government of centralised water services.
• Ngāi Tahu can appoint two voting members to the otherwise democratically elected Canterbury Regional Council.
• Oranga Tamariki is required by law to honour the Treaty when making decisions about Māori children in state care.
• Ethnicity is used to prioritise and even restrict access to healthcare services

New Zealand must remain a modern, multi-ethnic liberal democracy where we are all alike in rights and dignity.

ACT would make three major changes to alter New Zealand’s constitutional course:

• Clearly define the “principles of the Treaty of Waitangi” a term increasingly creatively interpreted to justify co-governance, by passing a Treaty Principles Act through Parliament and putting it to referendum for confirmation by the people.
• Reverse race-based policies such as Three Waters, the Māori Health authority, undemocratic local government representation, and Resource Management law that requires consultation based on race.
• Reorient the public service to target need based on robust data instead of lazy ethnicity-based targeting.

“We are a party that believes in universal human rights. As a matter of principle, no person should be treated differently based on who their ancestors were. One person, one vote. It's that simple.”

-Karen Chhour MP