Christopher Luxon speaks at Rātana earlier this week. Photo: Angus Dreaver / RNZ
Analysis - The political year has barely begun and the government's problems with Māori are already in sharp focus - and they're not likely to go away.
It was clear after the election that the government was going to have problems with Māori and now, with the new political year barely underway, they have come into sharp focus.
It's going to continue to test Prime Minister Christopher Luxon. He clearly doesn't welcome it - but because of his coalition deal, there isn't anything he can do about it.
At the heart of it is ACT leader David Seymour's insistence on producing a Treaty Principles bill. Seymour wants the principles of the Treaty defined and National had to agree to introduce it, pass it through its first reading and send it to a select committee for public submissions.
On the sidelines of Māori discontent are the government's intention to shift the Māori Health Authority into the Ministry of Health and its attitude to the use of the Māori language in the names of departments.
There's no timeline for the bill, but when it gets to select committee there's going to be a hugely controversial debate over what the principles should be and even why the bill exists.
At a national hui last week and at Rātana this week, Māori gave notice that they're going to make waves and a lot of noise.
They already have - Winston Peters and Shane Jones were booed.
Seymour wasn't there; he has never attended Rātana, which he says is a religious event. He will be at Waitangi next month, where the environment will be much more political.
The message from Māori at the national hui and at Rātana has been simple: don't meddle with the Treaty.
Raahui Papa, a representative of the Kiingitanga, said they were watching the rhetoric coming out of the Beehive very closely, RNZ reported.
"Quite frankly, te iwi Māori - and the hui at Tuurangawaewae confirmed, the hui here at Rātana has confirmed - that if there is any measure of meddling with Te Tiriti o Waitangi, Māori will not sit idly by," he said.
"We truly believe that the only treaty in town is the one that was written in the indigenous language."
Luxon gave an assurance there would be no meddling.
"The government has no plans and never has had plans to amend or revise the treaty, or the Treaty settlements that we have all worked so hard together to achieve," he said.
That seems clear enough, but Māori evidently don't trust the politicians. The way they see it, if there's going to be no meddling, why have the bill at all?
Seymour has said the principles are important because the Treaty should unite, not divide, the nation.
Speaking on Newstalk ZB on Thursday, he urged people to keep an open mind about his bill.
And he seemed to be optimistic that public opinion could alter the attitudes of his coalition partners when it comes to further support for the bill.
"I think what's important is that whether National and New Zealand First keep voting for it - after it's gone to a select committee, after the public have had a say - will very much depend on where that public attitude is at by that time," he said.
But the proposal to introduce the bill has become divisive, and Māori are suspicious.
Luxon gave an assurance that National had "no commitment, no intention" to support the bill beyond its first reading but he didn't categorically rule it out.
Stuff's Tova O'Brien said the message from Māori at Rātana had been emphatic.
"The National/NZ First/ACT government wasn't just challenged - it was ridiculed, it was called a three-headed taniwha, the enemy of Māori and Winston Peters and Shane Jones were booed during their speeches," she reported.
O'Brien noted Luxon had stopped short of ruling out supporting the bill beyond its first reading.
She interpreted that as being enough for Seymour to "feel satisfied his coalition deal is still solid".
"Luxon's non-committal refusal to rule out further support for the divisive policy had shades of his non-committal refusal to rule out working with Winston Peters for most of last year's election campaign. We know how that turned out," O'Brien said.
The Herald's Audrey Young pondered Luxon's reaction to Māori concerns and said he was adopting a calm, understated approach - "nothing that could be mistaken for encouraging more upset, nothing fortissimo, and nothing inspiring".
There was certainly nothing that could be mistaken as "supporting ACT's bid to rewrite the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi".
Young said such was the misrepresentation around ACT's policy that it was misinterpreted as "abolishing the Treaty" in a television news report this week.
"Luxon can't be expected to get outraged about the misrepresentation of a bill he doesn't believe is necessary, but there is enough angst around to require some reassurance from the prime minister," she said.
"There was little of it in the content of the speech other than to say there was no plan to amend or revise the Treaty and that the government supports the use of te reo Māori."
Young said Waitangi was still to come. "Perhaps we'll also see someone there who sounds like a prime minister."
The intense focus on Māori concerns, which stem from the policies of a coalition partner, are something Luxon doesn't need.
So far this year, he's been on the defensive over something he had to agree to, but didn't want, and it must be frustrating.
What he needs to be doing is talking about how the government is going to bring down the cost of living - one of the main reasons the voters gave him his job.
With Parliament resuming next week, he will have a broader canvas to work on.
*Peter Wilson is a life member of Parliament's press gallery, 22 years as NZPA's political editor and seven as Parliamentary bureau chief for NZ Newswire.
