Almost three-quarters of New Zealanders believe honouring Te Tiriti o Waitangi is important for the future of Aotearoa, according to new data released by Te Kāhui Tika Tangata Human Rights Commission.
The findings come from the Commission’s Horizons survey, conducted by Horizon Research in December 2025, which examined public awareness, understanding and attitudes toward Te Tiriti o Waitangi, human rights and New Zealand’s constitution. This is the third consecutive year the Commission has commissioned the survey, following similar research in 2023 and 2024.
The survey found that a strong sense of belonging, respect for human rights, and an understanding of Aotearoa’s history are overwhelmingly viewed as important for the country’s future. It also highlighted broad support for respectful discussion about Te Tiriti (78%), positive relationships between Māori and the Crown (83%), and legal and constitutional protection of Te Tiriti (70%).
Dayle Takitimu, Rongomamau Taketake of the New Zealand Human Rights Commission, says the findings challenge the perception that Te Tiriti is a deeply divisive issue.
“It’s our hope that this data reassures New Zealanders that they are more united than they think,” adds Takitimu. “We want people to share these numbers far and wide, even the areas where we can do better. Let’s have a discussion about how political rhetoric and misinformation moves us, and how we can all have more constructive discussions in future -- tangata whenua and tangata Tiriti.”
Takitimu says the timing of the survey’s release was deliberate, amid heightened political and media debate around Te Tiriti.
“We’ve done this really because we wanted to test the temperature around the nation for these sorts of discussions, because we were seeing in the media and through political discourse a lot of really divisive positioning, and we weren’t sure this was consistent with the pulse of what we understood on the ground.”
The data suggests strong public confidence in Te Tiriti as a source of connection and belonging.
“70 per cent of our population really value Te Tiriti o Waitangi as a place of belonging, understand their connection to it and they’re not scared, afraid or threatened by it whatsoever.”
The survey also raises questions about political and media narratives that frame Te Tiriti as a point of division between communities. One area identified for improvement was public awareness of expert findings relating to sovereignty, including the Waitangi Tribunal’s conclusion that sovereignty was not ceded on 6 February 1840.
Looking toward the election context, Takitimu says Māori leadership remains consistent in its aspirations.
“The tide and the mood of iwi chairs and iwi leadership is consistent; the call for the manifestation of Tino Rangatiratanga in its fullness.”
Despite recent political challenges to the status of Te Tiriti, Takitimu says there is growing public confidence.
“Māori are moving in really positive directions, despite the kind of politics in the last couple of years we have seen a real challenge to the status of Te Tiriti o Waitangi that has been almost successfully defended not just by Māori but the general population.”
She believes the findings show people are increasingly willing to stand up for what they value and expect political leadership to reflect that.
Takitimu says the Commission will lean into the survey’s findings in its advocacy, particularly as it encourages government engagement on constitutional arrangements.
“The NZ Human Rights Commission have come to Waitangi off the back of a really strong report from the United Nations Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which really examined this government’s stance around racism and, in particular, strong recommendations around colonisations and the constitutional place for Te Tiriti o Waitangi.”
The Commission says the survey reinforces long-standing findings of the Waitangi Tribunal that sovereignty was not ceded and highlights continued public support for Te Tiriti as a foundational document for Aotearoa’s future.
