Guest Post: Luxon’s silence on Te Tiriti o’ Waitangi is undemocratic and deafening in 2026

Guest Post by William Ludbrook on Brash & Mitchell

Why is te Tiriti o’ Waitangi such a divisive issue?

In April 2025 Prime Minister Christopher Luxon promulgated: “I have been talking to iwi leaders for the past 12 months”

And?– so?– no reasonable New Zealander would object to that. The problem is not that Luxon “had been talking to iwi leaders” The problem is that iwi leaders increasingly infer they are in a privileged position in shaping Government Policy. The National Iwi Chairs Forum requested a meeting after objecting to the government’s review of Treaty clauses throughout legislation. Their complaint was that they had not been sufficiently consulted before Cabinet considered reforms?