Iwi leader Helmut Modlik and six other senior members of Ngāti Toa walked out of the public gallery at Parliament today in protest during the introduction of the controversial Treaty Principles Bill.

David Seymour’s bill – which proposes replacing the many current treaty principles with three new ones – has been the subject of fierce criticism. Seymour says the purpose of the bill is to provide certainty and clarity around the principles.

Ahead of its introduction at Parliament today, between 70-100 protesters gathered outside Parliament with banners saying, “Kill the Treaty Principles Bill.”

In Auckland, crowds with similar banners and signs gathered outside the Act party electorate office in Epsom.

Inside the House, protests and objections continued with one person in the public gallery yelling, “You tell them, Rawiri,” when Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi raised a point of order.

Waititi and co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer raised multiple points of order – at least six between them – in the House to disrupt proceedings as a form of protest against the introduction of the bill.

Te Pāti Māori co-leaders Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi during a previous Question Time session in May. Photo / Mark Mitchell

People gathered outside the Act offices in Epsom protesting against the introduction of the Treaty Principles Bill. Photo / Carson Bluck

Labour MP Peeni Henare questioned the Minister for Māori Crown Relations: Te Arawhiti, Tama Potaka, who said he stood by the bill’s introduction and recognised the “genuine concerns expressed by iwi leaders”.

Henare asked Potaka if the Māori-Crown relationship was better or worse under his leadership.

Potaka replied: “I believe many, many Māori communities are very enthusiastic about the number of Māori tamariki who have left emergency housing.”

Speaker of the House Gerry Brownlee had to ask the House and at times the public gallery to be quiet during Potaka’s answer.

“There are a number of matters that I think have strengthened the Māori-Crown relationship,” Potaka said, listing funding for Te Matatini and education initiatives.

National's Hamilton West MP Tama Potaka gives his maiden statement to the House. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Protesters gather outside Parliament in opposition to the Treaty Principles Bill. Photo / Julia Gabel

It was during Potaka’s answer that Modlik and other leaders and members of Ngāti Toa stood up from their seats in the public gallery and walked out. Modlik paused while standing and as he looked down at the ministers, he made a motion as if he was brushing dirt off his shoulder.

“You get temporarily covered with dust and that’s what you do with dust, and then it’s gone ... I just wanted them to know, that’s what I think about what you’ve just had to say.”

Modlik told the Herald he walked out because he had “had enough”. He said he thought the minister’s answer was “so dishonest” and he could not stand being in the House “one second more”.

“I could not stand to sit in the house today and listen to a question, a straight question asked, ‘Is the relationship between the Māori community and the Government better or worse today as a consequence of yours ...’ – and the answer that was given was so dishonest, duplicitous and dishonourable.

Te Runanga o Toa Rangatira chief executive Helmut Modlik. Photo / Supplied

“I couldn’t stand to sit there and listen to that. I couldn’t sit there and listen to that a moment longer.”

Modlik said leaders from Ngāti Toa had come to “respectfully listen” but also to “register by our presence that we are attentive, that our eyes are on the process.”

He described the Treaty Principles Bill as a callous, “unilateral reversal of the spirit and substance of te Tiriti” and “four decades of truth and reconciliation”.

“Our people have not met a single Māori person that has got any inclination to accept that.

“The upside is that it has catalysed a degree of unity not seen in my lifetime, if ever, and it’s coming to a head. The strength of support both from the tangata whenua, tangata Tiriti in a couple of weeks’ time [with the planned national hīkoi] will undeniably capture the attention of both this House and the nation.”

The bill will have its first reading next Thursday. National and NZ First have already said they will not support the bill past a first reading. The bill will go to a select committee for six months from November to May.

The latest Waitangi Tribunal report on the policy warned that whether the bill was actually enacted or not, its “impacts will not fade for a long time”.

“At present, the progressing of the bill is having serious impacts on the relationship ... but the bill, if enacted, would kill that relationship.”

The legislation was unveiled today and included changes – narrowed wording – to one of the principles originally agreed on by Parliament in September.

Seymour believes Parliament, not the courts, should define the principles. Treaty principles are ways of interpreting the Treaty in law.

Seymour welcomed the introduction of the bill today, saying its purpose was for Parliament to define the principles of the Treaty, provide certainty and clarity, and promote a national conversation about their place in our constitutional arrangements.

“The bill will not alter or amend the Treaty itself. It will be used to assist with the interpretation of legislation where Treaty principles would normally be considered relevant, in addition to legislation that refers to Treaty principles directly.

“I am looking forward to this important national conversation about the place of the Treaty in our constitutional arrangements.”

Julia Gabel is a Wellington-based political reporter. She joined the Herald in 2020 and has most recently focused on data journalism.