ACT revives Treaty Principles fight without defining the Treaty

Summarised by Centrist

ACT is attempting to revive the central objective of its defeated Treaty Principles Bill through a wider constitutional package declaring equality before the law and restricting judicial power.

David Seymour said ACT “may have lost the vote” on the Treaty Principles Bill after its coalition partners opposed it, but insisted “we still won the argument”.

Much of the resistance concerned the Treaty itself, he said. ACT’s new proposal would place equality before the law into the Constitution Act but “does not talk about the Treaty”.

The policy would insert three principles stating that Parliament is sovereign, the rule of law is fundamental and every New Zealander is equal before the law. It would also add property rights to the Bill of Rights Act and require Treaty clauses in new or amended legislation to explain what they change, what they cost and how they will be enforced.

ACT also wants to restrict courts from expanding legislation beyond what Parliament intended when it was passed.

Seymour said judges had become “politically ambitious” and cited the Supreme Court’s Peter Ellis decision, which recognised tikanga as part of the continuing development of New Zealand common law.

Under ACT’s proposal, tikanga could remain relevant to matters such as disputes between iwi, but courts would be prevented from changing legislation based on their “own reckons”, Seymour said.

Stuff questioned whether requiring laws to be interpreted according to their original context could leave legislation unable to accommodate new technology. Seymour said judges could still recognise, for example, that modern text messages are documents, but must begin with Parliament’s intended meaning.

Asked whether Māori would receive dedicated consultation, Seymour said Māori would participate through the same democratic process as everybody else, not “because they’re special? No”.

Read more at Stuff

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