A controversial bill that had set off New Zealand’s largest-ever Maori rights protest was heavily defeated in parliament on Thursday.
The Treaty Principles Bill died in its second reading, being voted down by 112 to 11, a crushing defeat that had been widely anticipated.
Politicians on the floor and in the gallery broke into song as they celebrated, while the speaker, Gerry Brownlee, tried to maintain control and even removed one man from the gallery.
The proposed law sought to redefine the terms of the nation’s founding treaty between Maori tribes and the British crown signed 180 years ago.
The bill gained wide attention after a video of the nation’s youngest legislator, Maori member Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke, tearing up a copy of the proposed legislation and leading a haka dance in parliament went viral.
Massive protests against the bill saw tens of thousands of New Zealanders gather outside the parliament on 19 November.
“This bill hasn’t been stopped, this bill has been absolutely annihilated,” Ms Maipi-Clarke said on Thursday.
“We had two choices: to live or to die. We chose to live.”
The bill was proposed by the right-wing Act Party to define the principles of the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi, considered New Zealand’s founding document for upholding Maori rights. The treaty promised the tribes broad rights to retain their lands and protect their interests in return for ceding governance to the British.
The bill aimed to replace long-established principles created by courts and the parliament to guide the relationship between the crown and Maori tribes with a new set of rules.
Act Party leader David Seymour had said the bill was “an opportunity for parliament, rather than the courts, to define the principles of the treaty, including establishing that every person is equal before the law”.
The party argued the current principles misrepresented the original intent of the 1840 treaty, creating a two-tier system where Maori had distinct political and legal rights compared to non-Maori.
The Act Party’s were the only members to vote in favour of the bill on Thursday.
Mr Seymour vowed to continue the fight. “I believe this bill or something like it will pass one day because there are not good arguments against its contents,” he said on social media.
Former prime minister and Labour leader Chris Hipkins called Mr Seymour’s bill “a stain on this country” and called out the ruling coalition for helping “spread the myth of Maori privilege”.
He said it was a “grubby little bill born from a grubby little deal”.
“What is most offensive is the way that the Act Party and the political right have twisted the narrative to fit a racist agenda,” Willie Jackson, leader of the Labour Maori caucus said.
“It is and always has been about legal rights Maori have in their contract with the crown.”
The defeat of the bill was widely expected as it was not supported by other members of the governing coalition and faced opposition from other parties as well.
The bill received an overwhelming 300,000 responses when it was opened for submissions early this year, with 90 per cent opposing it.
A parliamentary committee then recommended the bill not proceed.
Christopher Luxon, the prime minister, was not in the parliament for the second reading of the bill. He had agreed to support it under a political deal with Mr Seymour that handed him power to lead a coalition government. However, he had said there was nothing in the bill that he liked.
Finding himself without enough seats to govern after the 2023 election, Mr Luxon had negotiated support from two smaller parties, including Mr Seymour’s, in return for political concessions.
National MP and Maori-Crown relations minister Tama Potaka called it a “cremation day” for the bill. “It’s dead, it’s gone and it will be buried,” he told Radio New Zealand.
