Protest against the Treaty Principles Bill

If you want to develop your listening skills, try these tasks as you listen to the text. The answers are at the bottom of this page, after the Vocabulary. Thanks to Natasha Groves for the idea and for preparing the tasks.

1. ​Listening for main ideas – Practising your note-taking skills

As you listen for the first time, take notes under these headings:

1. The hīkoi (=walk, march)
2. The Treaty Principles Bill

2. Listen again and answer these questions:

1. Why are people marching to Parliament?
2. Which political parties oppose the Bill?
3. What does Principle 1 of the Bill state?
4. What does Principle 2 of the Bill state?
5. What does Principle 3 of the Bill state?
6. Why has the Waitangi Tribunal criticised the Bill? Give two reasons.

Now listen and read the text at the same time to check your answers.

There is a large group of people walking to Wellington to protest against a new bill, called the Treaty Principles Bill. This is called a hīkoi in Māori, meaning a walk or march.

The group left Cape Reinga, at the top of the North Island, on Monday 11 November and have travelled through Whangārei, Auckland, Hamilton, Rotorua, Hastings, and Palmerston North. They arrived in Porirua yesterday and will travel to Wellington tomorrow to protest outside Parliament. Another group is travelling from Christchurch today to join the North Island group at Parliament. The Māori queen and the mayor of Wellington will also join the hikoi. There are expected to be up to 30,000 people at the protest.

The Treaty Principles Bill was introduced to Parliament last week. A bill is a draft law, which Parliament discusses in three stages or readings. The Bill passed its first reading on Thursday, but there was a lot of debate as the different political parties presented their perspectives. Only the Act Party supports it fully, while National and New Zealand First support it only through the first reading, as part of the coalition agreement. However, they have stated that they will vote against it at the second reading. Labour, the Green Party and Te Pāti Māori oppose the Bill. Te Pāti Māori led a haka, or a traditional dance, to show their opposition to the Bill. The video of this haka has been watched millions of times around the world.

The Act Party introduced the Treaty Principles Bill because they think Parliament should define the principles of the Treaty, rather than the courts. There are three Principles in the Bill, as there are three Articles in the Treaty. The first states that the government has full power to govern, and Parliament has the full power to make laws, in the best interests of everyone. The second states that the Crown recognises and respects the rights that Māori had in 1840, but if those rights differ from the rights of everyone, the Crown will only respect those rights if they are agreed in a historical settlement claim. The third Principle states that everyone is equal before the law. The Waitangi Tribunal, which investigates Treaty claims, has released a report on the Bill. They found that the Bill does not reflect the texts or meaning of the Treaty and that the Bill’s Principles misinterpret or change the Articles and principles of the Treaty. They also noted that there has been no consultation with Māori about the Bill. They argue that the Bill would seriously disadvantage Māori. It is not only Māori who are against the Bill but also Pākehā, as well as groups including lawyers, historians, translators, churches, and former politicians.

Although it is likely that the Bill will not pass its second reading in six months, it is creating a lot of debate and anger now.

Vocabulary

protest – to come together in public to express disagreement or opposition to something

treaty – an agreement between two groups or countries. In NZ the Treaty of Waitangi was signed between the British Crown and Māori

principle – the idea behind something, or a rule or theory that something is based on

draft – a rough written version of something which is not yet final

Answers:

1. To protest against the Treaty Principles Bill
2. Labour, the Green Party, and Te Pāti Māori
3. The government has full power to govern, and Parliament has the full power to make laws, in the best interests of everyone.
4. The Crown recognises and respects the rights that Māori had in 1840, but if those rights differ from the rights of everyone, the Crown will only respect those rights if they are agreed in a historical settlement claim.
5. Everyone is equal before the law.
6. the Bill does not reflect the texts or meaning of the Treaty; the Bill’s Principles misinterpret or change the articles and principles of the Treaty; there has been no consultation with Māori about the Bill; the Bill would seriously disadvantage Māori.