Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is rejecting scathing findings from the Waitangi Tribunal that the Government’s proposed Treaty reforms in education law amount to a “major breach” of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, saying the coalition will continue pressing ahead with rewriting Treaty clauses across legislation.
The Waitangi Tribunal released its interim stage one report into proposed changes to the Education and Training Act on Friday, finding the Crown breached the principles of partnership, active protection and good government by pursuing Treaty clause changes without meaningful engagement with Māori.
The Tribunal urged ministers to immediately halt the reforms and instead co-design any future changes with Māori.
It also warned the proposed downgrading of Treaty obligations in education law to a requirement no higher than “take into account” could damage the Māori-Crown relationship and may be “as bad” or even “worse” than the Government’s failed Treaty Principles Bill.
But when questioned about the findings on Monday morning, Luxon rejected suggestions the Government had breached Te Tiriti and defended the reforms as necessary to create “clarity” and “certainty” across legislation.
“As you know, we’ve had a series over 30, 40 years had a series of generic and open-ended Treaty clauses that’ve been dropped into lots of different bits of legislation,” Luxon said.
“We wanna get consistency in that.
“We want to have clarity and certainty so everybody understands their roles and their obligations with respect to a piece of legislation, of what their obligations are to each other.” He said.
Luxon confirmed the Government still intends to amend 19 pieces of legislation as part of the wider Treaty clause review, with another “eight or nine” undergoing a separate process.
“We think that’s important just so that we can actually make sure everyone’s clear about their roles and they have real certainty,” he said.
When asked directly whether he accepted the Tribunal’s finding that the reforms represented a “major breach” of Te Tiriti, Luxon did not answer, instead reiterating the Government’s broader position on Treaty clauses.
“Our goal is to get this country moving and having ambiguity and having open-ended Treaty clauses that have a different give effect on our whole mishmash of things that have been built up over 40 years.
“That doesn’t make sense to us. We wanna make sure we uphold our obligations as a Crown, that we’re clear about what our roles are to each other and that requires time.”
The Tribunal’s report centred on proposed changes to the Education and Training Act, including plans to weaken Treaty obligations across several sections of the law and repeal some provisions altogether.
It found Cabinet had agreed to broader changes without meaningful consultation with Māori and criticised the Crown’s reliance on the select committee process as sufficient engagement, describing that approach as “manifestly inadequate and an insult to Māori”.
The report forms part of a wider review over the coalition Government’s Treaty clause review, which is also now subject to a separate urgent Waitangi Tribunal inquiry, which is scheduled for early June.
Education Minister responds to report
Erica Stanford says she respects the Waitangi Tribunal process but stopped short of indicating whether the Government would reconsider the reforms.
“Of course I always respect the Waitangi Tribunal’s findings. It’s only the first report, there is more to come, so I won’t say too much on that just yet,” Stanford said.
She defended the Government’s record on Māori education, saying ministers had invested heavily in kura kaupapa Māori and Māori-medium education over the past two years.
“You will have seen over the last two years, for the very first time in this country’s history, we have put kura kaupapa into network planning,” she said.
“So we’re now starting to look at where the gaps are, where we need more, because there is huge demand. They do an excellent job, and we are a believer in school choice.” She said.
Stanford said the Government had also increased investment into mainstream schools with rumaki units and said she took Treaty responsibilities “very, very seriously.”
‘Nothing but contempt for the Treaty’ - Labour leader
Chris Hipkins says the Government is disregarding both the Waitangi Tribunal and Te Tiriti o Waitangi as it pushes ahead with the reforms.
He said the Tribunal’s findings should be taken seriously and accused the coalition of attempting to erase the Treaty from legislation.
“But just trying to pretend the Treaty doesn’t exist and trying to eradicate it from the statute book isn’t gonna lead us anywhere,” Hipkins said.
“The Government has an absolute contempt for good process, good democratic process. They don’t respect the role of the courts, they don’t respect the role of voters, either. I think that they just don’t have a respect for democracy.” He said.
Labour Māori Development spokesperson, Willie Jackson, went further, describing the Government’s response to the Tribunal as “shocking” and accusing ministers of launching another attack on kaupapa Māori.
“It’s terrible because it’s another attack on the principles and in fact the Tribunal actually thinks it’s worse than the Treaty Principles Bill,” Jackson said.
“It just shows this coalition’s total disrespect for kaupapa Māori.”
Jackson rejected claims the Government could improve outcomes for Māori while simultaneously weakening Treaty obligations in education law.
“You can’t get better outcomes for Māori by removing Treaty clauses and references to the Treaty. You can’t do that,” he said.
“We have to raise our kids up knowing that they’re part of a partnership, not part of some sort of separate coalition race-card playing government.”
Jackson said the Government was undermining the mana of the Waitangi Tribunal.
“He rawe, rawe tā rātou mahi. Tino whakahīhī mātou ki te kite i tā rātou mahi ki te kōkiri i ngā kaupapa Māori.
“Engari takahi tēnei kāwanatanga i runga i te mana o te Taraipunara i tēnei wā.”
