“The Crown cannot easily look a High Court judge in the eye and argue that statutory Treaty obligations are vague, unworkable, or a threat to democratic certainty when the executive branch has formally executed international documents telling the UK and EU the exact opposite.” — Nicola Hoobin.
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“It’s the most damaging collection of legislative Treaty proposals I’ve seen in my career, breaching Te Tiriti on a scale and breadth that we haven’t yet witnessed in our lifetimes.” — Carwyn Jones.
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“Once again, as has been the case throughout this parliamentary term, the government is ignoring the recommendations of experts, in favour of further trampling on Te Tiriti o Waitangi.” — Luke Fitzmaurice-Brown.
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“The relationships that schools and kura have with Māori endures despite directives from the right-wing.” — Awanui Te Huia.
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David Seymour “referred to himself as an ‘Indigenous New Zealander’ . . . He was employing a tactic we’ve seen domestically many times: invoking his ancestry to deflect criticism of his racist behaviour.” — Tina Ngata.
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“There are now suggestions that even Treaty settlements themselves may be seen as negotiable by the Crown, despite statements in the coalition agreement that they would be upheld.” — Melanie Nelson.
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“This is the most rejected, reviled, and opposed bill in the history of our government.” — Tina Ngata on the Regulatory Standards Bill.
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“I was recently quoted as saying the Regulatory Standards Bill ‘will stop lawmakers considering broader public health.’ This exchange led Minister Seymour to question my sanity in a public forum. I stand by my statement.” — Dr George Laking.
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“Aotearoa deserves a lawmaking system that reflects its people, landscapes, and histories, not one that repeats the exclusions of the past.” Jodhi Warwick-Ponga on the Regulatory Standards Bill.
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“I get so many messages from people telling me how scared they are by what this government is doing. But they also say that watching me speak up gives them hope. I think thats why my tīpuna gave me such a big waha. So that I could use it.” — Tania Waikato.
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“The bill may very well open the door for corporations to force Māori to pay for their own exploitation and the erasure of their Indigenous rights and lands.” — Ryan Ward.
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“My employer is not a living wage employer. They’re a minimum wage employer. I’ve been with them for four years now, and the money side of things is a struggle. I’m left trying to eat on $50 to $80 a week, and that’s for two of us, because I’m a single mum.” — A wahine Māori support worker in Wellington.
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“It is obvious that the drafters of the bill were not only appallingly ignorant, deliberately or otherwise, of Aotearoa New Zealand history, but also British history.” — Vincent O’Malley.
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“Elizabeth Rata often equates the inclusion of iwi, hapū and whānau knowledge and values into teaching with an emptying out of academic knowledge. She has been instrumental in shaping the new English curriculum.” — Jessie Moss.
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“David Seymour creates a shadowy force controlling our society, when in reality being tangata Tiriti or tangata whenua is a simple recognition of historical fact — not a set of restrictions.” — Brian Tweed.
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“If we are to move forward together to counter the twin existential crises of climate change and biodiversity loss, we need to ensure tangata whenua are part of decision-making.” — Kayla Kingdon-Bebb and Carwyn Jones.
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“It feels like our country has been hijacked and redirected to a destination most of us never intended to go to.” — Brian Tweed.
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“It is extraordinary that this minister is asserting the power to redefine core constitutional principles to govern future polities, just as he did with the ‘principles of the Treaty’.” — Emeritus Professor Jane Kelsey on the Regulatory Standards Bill proposal.
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“Individually or together, these two bills would entrench libertarian preferences in New Zealand’s constitutional framework. They would also obstruct the consideration of Te Tiriti in future lawmaking.” — Melanie Nelson.
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“While we underestimated the coalition’s willingness to sacrifice life for profit, we also believe that the government has underestimated how potent a coalition of shared interests to defend Te Tiriti can be.” — Matthew Scobie and Anna Sturman.
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“The real motive behind the bill is related to Act and its backers’ long-term strategy of deregulating business and opening up New Zealand to corporate investment, extraction, and exploitation.” — Ryan Ward.
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“Outside of its impact on Māori and race relations in Aotearoa, a significant long-term consequence of this bill will be the removal of one of the most important protections the New Zealand public have to the unwanted and harmful privatisation of state assets.” — John Murrie.
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“It is important that there is strong and visible opposition to the bill so that it is clear to politicians that there is no political advantage in progressing it.” — Carwyn Jones.
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“Parliament, when haka-provoked, exposed some of the tell-tale signs of its own foundational cultural system.” — Brian Tweed and Pania Te Maro.
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“The government’s directive is not just an attack on Māori, but an attack on science and good medical practice.” — Doctors from the universities of Auckland and Otago.
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“It is an act of bad faith and deep dishonour that the Crown is seeking to unilaterally amend how the Treaty is interpreted in all laws without the free, prior and informed consent of Māori.” — Tai Ahu and Natalie Coates.
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“The Crown can’t legitimately hold this debate without the other parties — the hapū and iwi of Aotearoa — and they haven’t been included.” — Catherine Delahunty on the Treaty principles bill.
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“The Crown, including the courts and the parliament, seized on the ‘principles’ as a device to maintain the status quo and to avoid the realities of Te Tiriti.” — Ngā Toki Whakarururanga.
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“These policies are consistent with an alarming pattern of the Crown using the policy process and parliamentary sovereignty against Māori.” — Dr Caren Fox, Chair of the Waitangi Tribunal.
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“What Christopher Luxon confronts now, as have all the politicians before him who’ve capitalised on seasonal bouts of Māori hysteria, is a generation of Māori strong in their identity, who won’t let progress slip without a fight.” — Jamie Tahana.
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