The far-right attempt to redefine the place of the Treaty of Waitangi in New Zealand has sunk, finished by a parliamentary vote splitting the coalition government.
The Treaty Principles Bill has been the most divisive piece of law in modern Kiwi politics, drawing record-breaking protests and parliamentary submissions against its adoption.
Its champion is David Seymour, the leader of the free-market libertarian ACT party, who won support from Prime Minister Chris Luxon to introduce the bill when they negotiated a coalition agreement in 2023.
However, Mr Luxon did not agree to support it past a second reading, leading to the bill's failure in the house on Thursday after 18 months of fractious and furious debate, both inside and outside parliament.
All parties except ACT voted against the bill, with its government partners National and NZ First joining with opposition parties Labour, the Greens and the Maori Party.
"This is a grubby little bill, born of a grubby little deal," Labour leader Chris Hipkins said.
"It has had a colossal impact on the fabric of our nation and this bill will forever be a stain on our country."
The backlash to the bill - which included a hikoi, or march, on parliament in Wellington that drew a record 40,000 people last November - began as soon as it was revealed.
The ferocity of the protests led Mr Luxon's National party to confirm its opposition, with its Maori Development Minister Tama Potaka even saying he "looked forward to the cremation".
The bill planned to alter the legal understanding of the Treaty of Waitangi, which was signed between Maori chiefs and the British Crown in 1840 to effectively create New Zealand's nationhood.
However, the English and Maori language versions of the treaty were different, creating disputes over the meaning of its clauses that continue to this day.
In the absence of a unifying text, meaning for those clauses has been effectively inferred by scholars and legal experts as "principles", such as partnership, Maori self-management over natural resources, and equality.
Mr Seymour's bill proposed changes that would have ended specific rights to Maori, which would have gone to a referendum, as he argued for equality in modern-day multicultural New Zealand.
"Primitive determinism should have no place in New Zealand," he said.
"The idea that your race matters is a version of a bigger idea, part of the idea that our lives are determined by things out of our control.
"A free society takes hard work and uneasy conversations. I'm proud my party has the bravery, the clarity, and the patriotism to raise uneasy topics."
Mr Seymour was heckled by a protester in the public gallery before Speaker Gerry Brownlee intervened, requesting police intervention.
As he addressed journalists under a balcony earlier in the afternoon, he was also nearly hit by a falling vape belonging to a Greens staffer, who alleged it was dropped by accident.
He was also labelled a liar by Labour veteran Willie Jackson, who was ordered from the house for the unparliamentary remark.
Mr Luxon skipped the debate on Thursday, as he did on previous airings, widely seen as an attempt to sidestep the toxicity of association to the bill.
National spokesman Paul Goldsmith said his party opposed the bill as "it was a crude way to handle a very sensitive topic".
Following the final vote, with 11 for and 112 against, MPs and members of the public sang Maori folk song and unofficial national anthem - Tutira mai nga iwi - before Mr Brownlee declined a haka from the public gallery.
