[ad_1]
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon in Koroneihana.
photo: RNZ/Nick Monro
analyze – David Seymour’s Treaty Principles Bill has lost its life after his coalition partners publicly vetoed it in Kolonehana.
But that hasn’t stopped ACT leaders from marching to their own beat.
While Seymour stopped short of saying he thought Christopher Luxon and Shane Jones were lying after they vowed before the Maori King and Kingitanga not to proceed with the bill’s first reading, he did suggest they were “rushing ahead”.
“They didn’t lie, but when more information came out they closed their minds,” Seymour told ABC New Zealand.
“The legislation hasn’t been drafted yet, so they haven’t seen it, and they haven’t seen the public’s reaction.”
ACT leader David Seymour (file photo).
photo: RNZ/Reece Baker
Seymour still believes he can change the minds of his coalition partners when the bill comes to the House in a few months, but that seems naively optimistic.
It is one thing for the Prime Minister to brush it off when answering journalists or in parliament, but it is quite another to make such a promise at Ngaruawahia in the heart of Kingitanga on Monday.
New Zealand First MP and Minister Jones reiterated this in the same newspaper, showing unity between New Zealand First and National.
Significantly, they did so during a political discussion at which ACT said it had not been invited by the King to join its parliamentary colleagues, and at which Seymour was not present.
New Zealand First’s Shane Jones delivers his kōrero speech.
photo: RNZ/Layla Bailey-McDowell
The importance of this timing is not lost on Seymour.
Luxon told reporters at the end of political negotiations on Monday that the bill will go through the process of drafting, introduction, first reading and special committees because this is the reality of MMP.
This is not so much a problem with MMP as it is a problem with National and NZ First being unable to agree on more options for the ACT, or Seymour actually making an absolute compromise on first reading.
While Seymour called for a national dialogue on the treaty, he told Radio New Zealand he was unsure if he would accept an invitation to Koronehana.
“I feel like I didn’t gain a lot from attending this meeting… I would be disappointed if I missed out on some constructive conversation, but from what I heard, I’m not sure what I missed out on.”
The bill will be introduced into legislation in November, before which it will need approval from coalition partners in the Cabinet.
Seymour believes that once the show is produced, it will be “much more positive and popular than some of the actors have portrayed it to be”.
That may be the case, given the “bury it” rhetoric from Labour, the Greens and the Māori Cultural Foundation at Ngāruawāhia on Monday, but it’s not them he needs to convince.
The two parties that could breathe new life into the bill are the same two that declared it dead on Monday.
[ad_2]
Source link
