New Zealand’s Libertarian Leader Asked Not to Attend Major Maori Event Because of ‘Race Bill’

New Zealand government representatives including Prime Minister Christopher Luxon (C) ACT leader David Seymour (L) and New Zealand First leader Winston Peters (R) are welcomed onto Te Whare Rūnanga during a pōwhiri in Waitangi, New Zealand on Feb. 5, 2024. Fiona Goodall/Getty Images

The leader of the party which introduced the contentious Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill—which seeks to put an end to any difference in the way Māori and non-Māori New Zealanders are treated under the law—has been asked not to attend Waitangi Day this year.

Each year a public holiday on Feb. 6 celebrates the day on which the Treaty of Waitangi, between the Crown and many tribal chiefs, was signed in 1840.

What was for decades a symbolic celebration become a day of debate on the treatment of Māori.

That turned into protest, with a wet t-shirt thrown at Queen Elizabeth in 1990, Labour Prime Minister Helen Clark reduced to tears in 1998, National PM John Key jostled as he walked onto the marae in 2009, and a sex toy thrown at senior National Minister Steven Joyce in 2016.

Several prime ministers—including Clark and Key—eventually decided not to attend, and current PM Christopher Luxon has announced he will avoid this year’s event. However, ACT Party Leader David Seymour said he would attend despite facing significant opposition to his Treaty Principles Bill.

The Bill is aimed at clarifying how one New Zealand’s founding Treaty of Waitangi is interpreted.

It has attracted a record 300,000 written submissions when the deadline closed earlier this month, causing technical issues on Parliament’s website.

Bill a ‘Threat to Māori Rights’: Tribal Leaders

Seymour—who is part-Māori—has been written to by his own tribe, Ngāti Rēhia, and told not to show up to this year’s event.

“We are at a time in our history where we believe the mana [stature] of Te Tīriti o Waitangi and the rights of te iwi Māori [the various tribes] are being threatened. A huge part of that threat is the Treaty Principles Bill that you are championing to become legislation,” the letter says.

“This bill has been highly contentious, divisive and is seen by many as a breach of Te Tīriti o Waitangi itself. Your hapū [sub-tribe] have supported your attendance at Waitangi in the past but, with respect, our advice this year is that while this bill is still being progressed and you are still actively supporting it, we do not believe it would be an appropriate decision to attend Waitangi.”

They suggest Seymour “might consider celebrating the signing of Te Tīriti o Waitangi at a different venue this year.”

But the ACT leader isn’t deterred.

“I'll be attending as a Member of the Government, which is obliged to serve all New Zealanders equally,” he told reporters. “It would be wrong to say I was attending on behalf of one hapū. By the same token, I wouldn’t not attend due to one hapū.”

Meanwhile, the leaders of the other two governing coalition parties, Winston Peters of New Zealand First, and Luxon, have been at another of the three major meetings between government and Māori at Rātana.

Both have assured attendees that Seymour’s Bill will not become law.

Peters called it “dead in the water” and said it was “never going to go past the first reading,” while Luxon said, “National won’t support the bill—it will be voted down and it won’t become law.”