ACT announced it's going to change the Constitution Act instead of trying to pass the Treaty Principles Bill again.
- It's going to add three principles to the Constitution Act:Parliament is sovereign.
- The rule of law is fundamental.
- All New Zealanders are equal before the law.
Now, maybe they're right. But my suspicion is that this will be of no consequence whatsoever - because just because you say in a piece of legislation that all New Zealanders are equal before the law doesn't mean that's what Health New Zealand is going to do when it decides, once again, to roll out free GP visits in Hawke's Bay to people from only two ethnic groups.
But it gets even worse, because it has now become abundantly clear that the Government, and by that I mean all three coalition parties, are deliberately moving at a snail's pace, in my opinion, on the other Treaty principles issue: the promise to delete or amend all the Treaty-principles clauses in 19 pieces of legislation.
Paul Goldsmith has been working on that for an extraordinarily long time and still hasn't managed to get it before Parliament.
It may not even receive a first reading before the election, which means that after the next election, whatever Government takes office can simply dump it, say they've moved on and claim they have other priorities.
Which means that if you didn't like the idea of school boards being forced to give effect to the Treaty, tough luck.
They still have to and they probably still will have to indefinitely because National, New Zealand First and ACT have basically decided this is all just a little too hard.
So, as I say, if you voted in 2023 ...
Heather du Plessis-Allan is a journalist and radio broadcaster who hosts Newstalk ZB's weekday Drive-Time Show – where this article was sourced.
9 comments:
With respect Heather, there is ONLY one party prepared to stand up to this B.S... let me give you a clue...its not National with Luxon at helm, nor the duplitious NZ 1st.
Heather, I share your thoughts. But the fact is Luxon blocked what would have been ideal - the treaty principals bill.
David has accepted the fact National were never going to accept the TPB, so what do you do - nothing???? thats what NZ1st are doing. Nothing. You have to give credit, at least David is doing SOMETHING
Let's for arguments sake say that The British came to nz, where Maori lived in absolute bliss, akin to paradise, and there was a huge war that was purely the fault of the British invaders? This is not the case at all, but even if was, so what? This has happened on every country on planet earth since time began. Why are people living in nz in 2026 being told that we are to blame and that the solution is to throw out equality and divide people into two groups, oppressor and victim and to make up a false history called te tiriti? It is utterly ridiculous and absolute bs.
ACT has become a con job = the one law for all soundbite is an empty slogan to wrangle votes from folks who think the Party is sincere. I personally helped ACT get back into power. My friend and coauthor Sir Roger Douglas founded it. We tried and failed to reform the party more recently. But they've lost their way. The comments here say ACT is trying its best = rubbish. Had David truly believed in one law for all and National said they would veto it, he should've never formed a coalition governmemt with them. He supported the Nats, propped Luxon up in power and was desperate to be Deputy PM. Pretending he believes in one law for all is hilarious. He never put his money where his mouth is and never will. Its a comms game he is playing. That's all.
Listen carefully Heather…can you hear that persistent thumping sound. It’s the sound of a large sledgehammer striking a wedge into the mass of the NZ population. More and more can hear it as the years go by. On one side of the wedge - only the very deserving people who receive benefit after benefit from, guess who, the unworthy portion of the nation on the other side; those responsible for all the oppression, pain and failure experienced by that quite small percentage of the very, very deserving. But do not be distressed - the worthy side will, in the near future, control all political aspects of the nation, with the joyful enthusiasm of a high percentage of those on the bad side of the wedge. That is the group that will work (forever?) to recompense the very good side for their continuing oppression, by the bad side, of course.
Robert MacCulloch, I am interested - what would you suggest is a better option.
How do you solve the problem. As far as I know all the left parties will never support equality, where does that leave you???
ACT has achieved a great deal more during this term than NZ First. Winston and Shane’s actions rarely match their words. Removal of treaty principles clauses from legislation??? Just another Tui billboard.
Awh, anon@1.28, Shane & Co have given a bucket load of $$$ to marae - so what's wrong with that? And there are "no Principles in the Treaty", that's why it's taking them so long to expunge them? Winston's a man of his word - just a pity it changes depending on where the next 'baubles' are.
Take note of what MacCulloch said 10.27am. I have none of that inside knowledge. I look at the track record over time and find Acts words do not match the actions.
There are no princibles in the treaty. Simply and outright, Race should have no place in our governace period! One nation, one people, thats it. None of the Parties are willing to remove Race; least of all National and Labour. Tinkering around the edges solves nothing.
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