The Waitangi Tribunal has found the Government breached Te Tiriti principles through its proposed overhaul of Treaty clauses in education law, urging ministers to immediately halt the reforms and begin meaningful co-design with Māori.
In its interim stage one report, Hūtia te Rito o te Harakeke, kei Hea to Kōmako e Kō?, the Tribunal concluded the Crown’s approach to proposed amendments to the Education and Training Act breached the principles of partnership, active protection and good government, causing “significant prejudice” to Māori.
The inquiry originally stemmed from an urgent claim brought by Ngāti Hine, Te Kapotai and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) after Parliament removed school boards’ legal duty to “give effect” to Te Tiriti o Waitangi in 2025.
However, during hearings last month, the Crown revealed a much broader package of proposed education law changes flowing from the Government’s wider Treaty clause review, a coalition agreement commitment between National and NZ First to review legislation containing references to Treaty principles and either repeal or rewrite them.
The broader Treaty clause review is now also facing a separate urgent Waitangi Tribunal inquiry.
Earlier this month, they granted urgency into the wider review process, saying proposed changes to Treaty clauses across legislation carried constitutional significance and warranted urgent scrutiny.
The Tribunal said the inquiry initially focused on the repeal of school boards’ Treaty obligations and changes to Te Mātaiaho, the New Zealand Curriculum.
But on the eve of hearings in April, Crown lawyers revealed Cabinet had already agreed to a much broader package of Treaty clause changes across the Education and Training Act without consultation with Māori.
Those proposals included downgrading Treaty obligations in multiple sections of the Act to no higher than a requirement to “take into account” Te Tiriti, changing references to Te Tiriti to include both texts of the Treaty, and amending or repealing some Treaty obligations altogether.
The report also examined possible changes to broader purpose clauses within the Act that currently require parts of the education system to “honour” or “give effect to” Te Tiriti.
In its letter to ministers, the Tribunal said the Crown had failed to engage meaningfully with Māori before making decisions of constitutional significance.
“We have found the Crown’s approach to the reforms has breached the treaty principles of partnership, active protection, and good government and caused prejudice to Māori,” the Tribunal wrote.
“We recommend you correct course and immediately halt the advancement of the proposed amending legislation.”
The Tribunal said if changes to Treaty clauses were objectively needed, they should instead be developed through “meaningful engagement with Māori in their co-design”.
The report was particularly critical of the Government’s consultation process, noting Cabinet decisions were made without broader Māori engagement and despite earlier warnings from the Waitangi Tribunal during the Ngā Mātāpono inquiry into the Treaty clause review process.
It found the Crown pursued a “treaty-inconsistent course” by engaging only with the National Iwi Chairs Forum after substantive decisions had already been made.
The Tribunal also criticised Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith’s reliance on the select committee process as sufficient consultation, describing that position as “manifestly inadequate and an insult to Māori.”
The report said ministers proceeded despite repeated official advice warning timeframes were too constrained, policy analysis was incomplete, and not enough was known about the potential impacts on Māori interests and the Māori-Crown relationship.
In one of its strongest findings, the Tribunal compared the reforms to the Government’s controversial Treaty Principles Bill.
“In summary, the decision to diminish the Crown’s treaty obligations in the Act to one of the lowest standards of ‘take into account’ … represents a major breach of the treaty and its principles,” the Tribunal said.
“It is as bad as the Treaty Principles Bill in its attempt to erase the Crown’s duty to comply with the agreement made between Māori and the Crown in 1840. It may even be worse, because the Treaty Principles Bill in theory was never going to be enacted.”
The Tribunal said the proposed reforms formed part of a broader pattern of “treaty-inconsistent” lawmaking by the coalition Government, pointing to reforms involving Oranga Tamariki, Māori wards, the Marine and Coastal Area Act and the Regulatory Standards Bill.
Among the key recommendations, the Tribunal called on the Government to:
- Immediately halt the advancement of the amending legislation intended to effect the Education and Training Act
- meaningfully engage and co-design any future amendments with Māori
- take urgent steps to repair the Māori-Crown relationship
NZEI Te Riu Roa president Ripeka Lessels welcomed the findings, saying they confirmed Māori had been sidelined in major education decisions.
“We welcome the Tribunal’s findings, which clearly outline how the Government’s recent actions have bypassed Māori and undermined the principle of partnership and active protection,” Lessels said.
“By moving unilaterally to downgrade Te Tiriti in education, the Government has ignored the principles of good government and caused direct prejudice to Māori.”
“It is now important that the Crown heeds this call to halt the proposed changes to the Education and Training Act and begins the work of repairing the relationship with Māori.”
Lessels said educators expected the Crown to honour its constitutional obligations and uphold an education system that served ākonga Māori.
The Tribunal noted further findings may follow during stage two of the urgent inquiry, which continues to examine the repeal of school boards’ Treaty obligations and changes to Te Mātaiaho, the New Zealand Curriculum.
The Education Minister has been approached for comment.
However, less than half an hour before the embargo on the Tribunal’s report lifted, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith announced the Government would press ahead with wider Treaty clause changes across 19 pieces of legislation, signalling no intention to halt the reforms despite the Tribunal’s recommendations.
He and other Ministers received a copy of the report ahead of it being published publicly.
“The Government has agreed to amend two references to be more specific, repeal seven references, and specify no higher standard than to ‘take into account’ should be used in provisions to the Treaty of Waitangi across ten acts,” he said.
The Education and Training Act remains among the laws affected, with proposed changes including repealing section 536A(1) and downgrading Treaty standards in sections 9 and 535B(a) to “take into account”.
Goldsmith said the Government was seeking greater “consistency” in how Treaty clauses operate across legislation.
“Over the last 30 or 40 years, Parliament has made all sorts of references to the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi. Sometimes it’s ‘honour’, or ‘have regard to’, or ‘give effect to’, or ‘take into account’. We need to create some consistency here.”
He said consultation with iwi was underway and the legislation would proceed through the select committee process.
