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MEDIA RELEASE – 16 December 2024

Ngāti Kahungunu submits in opposition to the Treaty Principles Bill.

 

Ngāti Kahungunu has sent its submission in opposition to the Treaty of Waitangi Principles Bill to the Justice Select Committee. 

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Chairman of Ngāti Kahungunu, Bayden Barber says, “Ngāti Kahungunu never ceded its sovereignty. Ngāti Kahungunu has exercised the rights, responsibilities, and obligations of rangatiratanga in our rohe from well before 1840 to the present day. The rangatiratanga of Ngāti Kahungunu does not derive from the Crown or Parliament.”

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The Ngāti Kahungunu submission clearly states the reasons why it opposes the Treaty Principles Bill, “due to its inherent contradictions and potential for detrimental consequences. Each principle, while seemingly benign, harbours flaws that necessitate their rejection.”

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Barber continues, “This Bill is a dangerous precedent that sets out to reinterpret not only the intent of Te Tiriti o Waitangi but the specific kupu (words) that were used in the original Māori version.  My ancestor Harawira Mahikai Te Tātere understood exactly the intent and meaning of every word of Te Tiriti when he signed it along with Te Hapuku and Hoani Waikato in 1840 at Waipūreku.  The Treaty Principles Bill blasphemes the intentions of these rangatira, and indeed those of the crown partner.”

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Earlier on the 16th of November thousands of Ngāti Kahungunu turned out for the hīkoi against the Bill in Heretaunga and again in Pōneke the following week with over 50,000 whānau walking in solidarity to protest the introduction of the Bill to Parliament.  Submissions have now been called for the Bill with the close-off date of 7 January at 11.59 pm.

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Chief Executive of Ngāti Kahungunu Iwi, Chrissie Hape says, “We encourage all of our whānau, marae and hapū to submit in opposition to this dangerous Bill.  The submission can be as simple as ‘I oppose the Bill because it degrades my/ our rangatiratanga as promised in Te Tiriti o Waitangi’. The more submissions we can get in, the more they will have to consider, giving added weight to scrap the Bill.”

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The full text of the Ngāti Kahungunu Submission can be read here https://www.kahungunu.iwi.nz/kahungunusubmission

ENDS

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Media Enquiries, Bayden Barber, Chair Ngāti Kahungunu Iwi Inc. 021570011

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