My Treaty Principles Bill submission

A short, to the point submission focused on what I view as the main points

I oppose the Treaty Principles Bill.

The Treaty Principles Bill is a disingenuous attempt to enable corporate interests to extract and exploit Aotearoa's land and resources for profit.

Putting aside all of the arguments against the actual principles of the bill, which have been shown by many to be inconsistent with the initial meaning and interpretation of the Treaty, this bill hopes to invalidate any claims of sovereignty by Māori because these claims have been upheld in court cases and have long been a barrier to unfettered corporate exploitation. The current government is already working behind the scenes to remove protections of the Treaty from existing legislation and open up New Zealand to corporate interests who have long been blocked in their extraction agendas by these protections.

Redefining the Treaty principles as the Minister has attempted here, however, will once and for all remove any claims to protection of Māori lands and resources against industrial development or extraction (except those already specified in existing settlements). Talk of equality, freedom, and human rights is a sleight of hand designed to cloak an ideological and nakedly corporate agenda in language that no reasonable person could disagree with. Indeed, the Minister noted as much in his introduction of the bill.

Combined with other bills, such as the Fast Track Bill and the Regulatory Standards Bill, this bill will be used to open up New Zealand to rampant corporate exploitation and to tie the hands of future governments. While it is framed as a bill to ensure equality before the law for everyone, its true purpose is to remove any protections against corporate exploitation of lands and resources that have been protected under Te Tiriti.

The bill should be rejected and not brought for future consideration.