Submissions against the Treaty Principles Bill due by 7 Jan 11:59pm!

Get your submissions against David Seymour's darned Treaty Principles Bill in! The deadline is 7 Jan 11:59pm - that's this coming Tuesday!

Post your submissions here.

For reference, below is the Freedom Shop's own submission:

THE Freedom Shop Collective is a small, Poneke-based collective, now approaching its 30th year of existence, so has outlived seven New Zealand governments. Our primary project has been the successful operation of a non-profit political bookshop which encourages the disestablishment of capitalism and the state. Often dubbed ‘OG activists’ by youngsters, the collective is well-known and respected amongst Poneke’s alternative political and countercultural milieus.

We oppose the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill, considering the introduction of this bill to be solely based on the need of the author to fulfil an adolescent ideological obsession, and recommend the entire thing be dumped ASAP

While we see this bill as dead in the water, it has the unfortunate side effect of encouraging the old dinosaurs, unable to understand that the country has moved on, to stir up trouble and waste everyone’s time. Twenty years ago, this bill may have had a chance of success. Today its appropriate resting place is in a drawer in a back room of Te Papa, gathering dust as a curio to be pulled out now and then, to bemuse and mystify future generations.

It fails to address any present problems, and is highly likely to create others, while creating considerable work for the government, the cost of which will have to be shouldered by Aotearoa’s Consumers and Taxpayers.

Its sole merit is the possibility of it distracting the government from other, even more insidious, work.

General observations

We reckon that:
1. Nobody in their right mind will sign a treaty with a New Zealand government which has created a precedent for the unilateral reinterpretation of a formal agreement by referendum.

2. The bill is so badly drafted as to amount to a huge gift to lawyers, who will milk the gravy train of litigation for decades to come.

3. The bill has already created a fear of further breaches of the currently accepted principles of te Tiriti, worked out over decades of debate, legal decisions and practical application.

4. A referendum is a clumsy and inappropriate tool when addressing the rights of a minority. Carrying out referenda in settler colonial countries is a little like stacking a meeting. The government decides who is allowed in, then gives them the right to vote on legislative issues.
When applied to issues created by colonisation, in which there are often strong differences between opinions held by those of indigenous descent and those of settler and migrant descent, referenda deepen racial divides and call into question the right of citizens descended from immigrants to vote.
This is exemplified by the conflict and divisions resulting from the referenda agreed under the Matignon accords in Kanaky (AKA ‘New Caledonia’), which generated massive arguments about the entitlement of the ‘Caledoche’ population to vote, as it was understood that voting on the independence of Kanaky would be largely along ethnic lines. Notably, the results of the referenda there were not accepted by indigenous people and attempts to give settlers equal political status has stoked further conflict.
 

5. There has been zero consultation with Māori over the drafting of this bill. This is, in itself, a breach of te Tiriti.
 

6. The removal of any chances of the realisation of Māori rights within the established political system is likely to return us to the situation in the 1970s when confrontational protest, land occupations and other extra-parliamentary political activism became widely understood to be the only route for Māori to address their concerns. As anarchists we are already very busy and supporting such protests will be an extra demand on our time.

We note that participants in those confrontations back in the day, such as the Polynesian Panthers and Ngā Tamatoa, while vilified at the time, are now being held up as heroes in popular culture. Funny old world, ain’t it?
 

Specific clauses of the bill

Part two of this bill sets out supposed ‘Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi’.
The purpose of constitutional law is to constrain the government of the day, to prevent an ‘elected dictatorship’ which can run roughshod over accepted conventions. ’Principle 1’ in this section
removes any such constraints. It requires a government to act ‘in the best interests of everyone;’ and to maintain a ‘free and democratic society’. These are rather meaningless statements, the first being claimed by every political ideology from capitalism to theocracy and the second being open to interpretation – does ‘democracy’ require a popular vote on every issue? Are we ‘free’, as Abbie Hoffman asked, “to shout ‘theatre!’ in a crowded fire?”

‘Principle 2’ states that “The Crown recognises, and will respect and protect, the rights that hapū and iwi Māori had under the Treaty of Waitangi/te Tiriti o Waitangi at the time they signed it.” but goes on to say that “if those rights differ from the rights of everyone, subclause (1) applies only if those rights are agreed in the settlement of a historical treaty claim”.

This is of concern as it removes the right of Māori to the exercise of tino rangatiratanga which is clearly stated in te Tiriti. It makes the tino rangatiratanga subject to the whims of the kāwanatanga held by the crown. This is obviously in contravention of the intentions of the majority of signatories to te Tiriti.
We also note that most iwi have already settled such claims and the passage of this bill, by impeding other avenues of legal redress, may require the reopening of previous settlements to allow all iwi the opportunity to define those Treaty-based rights.

‘Principle 3’ declares all “equal before the law... without discrimination”. This raises two issues.
Firstly, that this extinguishes any possibility of recognition of law recognising different cultural values and custom. We would see the easiest way to put this into practice being to have everyone, Pākehā and tau iwi included, follow

Secondly, existing laws currently discriminate, for practical and cultural reasons, on a basis of age, marital status, gender, etc. Under this bill, such discrimination will face legal challenges. For example, social welfare payments that are lower for married couples as compared to two single people will require adjustment. Women will be entitled to equal legal treatment such the right to swim topless in public swimming pools (alternatively, men could be required to wear bikinis or t- shirts). Children will be able claim that, according to the newly-defined principles of the Treaty of Waitangi, discrimination by age, which prevents them voting, or buying fireworks and alcohol, is illegal.

We kinda like that bit.

This clause will also create a further burden on the government, necessitating the amendment of vast realms of legislation, such as the Maori Soldiers Trust Act 1957, the Oaths and Declarations (Māori Language) Regulations 2004, and the Burial and Cremation Act 1964 which exempts Māori
burial grounds from most of its provisions, and who knows how many others. You guys are going to have your work cut out.

Should this bill go ahead, we recommend you hire us as consultants to sort out this unholy legislative mess. We good at this stuff and are slightly cheaper than your mates who you usually get to do such work.

Recommendations
The Freedom Shop Collective suggests the select committee recommend that this bill does not go ahead.
 

Notes
1. It is difficult to write a clear and honest submission on this bill without using offensive language. This is particularly true for the bogan community which is particularly targeted by the discriminatory policy of rejecting submissions that employ insults and abuse. We suggest this policy be changed to enable full and equal participation by the New Zealand public.

2. Anarchist meetings normally include the provision of snacks and drinks. The select committee might like to consider adopting this policy.