Debbie Ngarewa-Packer says the commissioner would protect Te Tiriti from political interference. Photo: RNZ/ Reece Baker
Te Pāti Māori has told potential coalition partners that ensuring Te Tiriti o Waitangi is at the centre of all government decision-making will be a bottom line for any negotiations next year.
At Waitangi, the party re-committed to establishing a Parliamentary Commissioner for Te Tiriti, which it said would ensure the Crown was held accountable for its obligations under the founding document.
The party also campaigned on establishing a commissioner at the 2023 election.
Speaking from Waitangi, co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer said the commissioner would protect Te Tiriti from political interference.
She said had it already existed, something like the Treaty Principles Bill would never have been allowed to get off the ground.
"We believe that this commission is critical to ensuring that we never ever have the uncertainty and the division and hatred that we've seen Aotearoa New Zealanders have to experience," she said.
Te Pāti Māori said while Waitangi Tribunal looked at breaches of Te Tiriti, the commission would "be invested in, and have teeth" in compelling the government to honour its obligations.
"It becomes the arbiter for anything when it comes to legislation being created. Not only that, the way Crown offices operate in terms of policy building and implementation. So this is the auditor, this will be out Tiriti o Waitangi auditor, it will go through, it will ensure that te Tiriti o Waitangi is concreted into everything we do," co-leader Rawiri Waititi said.
Asked whether the commissioner would be a bottom line, Ngarewa-Packer said protecting Te Tiriti and putting it at the centre of every decision had always been a critical factor of who the party was.
Despite the commissioner being a policy the party has already run on before, Waititi said the party would get to the detail of how it would work, including its enforcement powers, further down the track.
ACT said the commissioner would be unelected yet have the power to veto legislation, and called on Labour to rule it out.
"ACT would like to thank Te Pāti Māori for being so honest about the fact they don't support rule by elected Parliament. Ironically, they've shown voters electing the next Parliament what's at stake if they vote Labour, the Greens, or Te Pāti Māori," leader David Seymour said.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins would not rule the policy in or out, but said he was open to a discussion on how more checks and balances could be put in the system.
He said a Parliamentary Commissioner would not be able to overrule Parliament, but instead provide advice.
"We're open to conversations about how we can better ensure that we're living up to the promise of Te Tiriti, and that is not just for Māori but for all New Zealanders," he said.
Hipkins said Seymour was being hypocritical, given the Regulatory Standards Bill he was planning to take to Cabinet.
"On the one hand he's saying this is unconstitutional, and yet he's trying to create a regulatory standards tsar who would be able to overturn regulations put in place by a democratically-elected government."
