More than 40,000 protesters marched to New Zealand’s parliament on Tuesday in the largest demonstration against proposed changes to indigenous rights in the country’s recent history. The protest marked the final stage of a nationwide march opposing legislation that critics say would weaken Māori treaty rights.
The dispute centers on the Treaty of Waitangi, New Zealand’s founding document signed in 1840 between British colonizers and Māori chiefs. For decades, courts have interpreted the treaty as guaranteeing Māori rights to self-governance and protection of their lands and customs. Earlier this month, parliamentarian David Seymour introduced the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill, legislation aiming to redefine some of these long-standing legal principles in ways that critics, including historians and legal scholars, say would significantly reduce Māori sovereignty and constitutional protections.
Tens of thousands marched from the meeting point near New Zealand’s national museum Te Papa Tongarewa two kilometres to parliament. It took the procession over two hours to complete the journey and was the last stop in a nationwide nine-day hīkoi (march) which began in the north at Te Rerenga Wairua/Cape Reinga. On November 13, the hīkoi passed through the country’s most populous city, Auckland, accompanied by thousands of protesters who attended “activations” at significant sites of Māori protest.
A conservative estimate from police counted 42,000 protesters by the hīkoi’s height mid-afternoon, although others such as Labour MP Willie Jackson have suggested that the numbers were closer to 50,000. One marked difference between prior Māori protest movements and the Toitū te Tiriti hīkoi was the presence of tangata Tiriti (non-Māori supporters). A small contingent of government MPs watched from the parliament forecourt, including the bill’s author, Seymour. The newly crowned Māori queen, Nga Wai Hono I Te Po, was also in attendance supporting the hīkoi in her second public appearance since her coronation.
Parliamentarian for Wellington Central Tamatha Paul spoke to protesters mid-afternoon:
We told them: do not tutū [interfere with] with our Treaty. We warned them that there would be a mass resistance. But what we are seeing in front of us today is a unity, a kotahitanga — Māori, Pākehā [New Zealanders of European descent], tauiwi [foreigners], people born here, people born afar, all united to say we deserve better and we will not let this place trample on the mana of our Treaty.”
The Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill now faces a six-month select committee process where the public can deliver submissions on the proposed law before almost certainly being voted down at its second reading in parliament.
