The Green Party is urging the Prime Minister to get rid of the Regulatory Standards Bill after the Waitangi Tribunal found that the Bill breaches the Crown’s Tiriti o Waitangi obligations.

“The Regulatory Standards Bill is another thinly veiled attack on te Tiriti o Waitangi. The Prime Minister failed to show leadership on the Treaty Principles Bill, he can begin to make amends by abandoning this Bill," says Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson.

“Te Tiriti o Waitangi is the promise of protection, for people and planet. We have seen hundreds of thousands of people show up in support of te Tiriti o Waitangi, we know our communities will not stand for this.

“The Bill is the same tired politics we have seen time and time again from the Government, attacking Te Tiriti o Waitangi to make it easier for wealthy companies to exploit our whānau and our taiao for profit.

“For a Bill that claims to attempt to embed ‘good law-making’, the Bill has already breached te Tiriti o Waitangi in its policy development and has completely ignored the significant opposition and feedback provided in over 22,000 submissions.

“The last time the Prime Minister showed up to Waitangi, he said that te Tiriti o Waitangi was our past, present, and future. As Prime Minister, it would be wrong for him to again ignore the findings of the Waitangi Tribunal and allow this Bill to proceed without real engagement with Māori on such constitutionally significant legislation.

“Governments come and go. Politicians come and go. Te Tiriti o Waitangi is foundational and enduring. Honouring te Tiriti o Waitangi is the constitutional obligation of every Prime Minister – something Christopher Luxon must take personal responsibility for by scrapping the Regulatory Standards Bill.

“Whatungarongaro te tangata, toitū te whenua. Whatungarongaro te Kāwanatanga, toitū te Tiriti o Waitangi. People disappear, while the land remains. Governments come and go, while te Tiriti o Waitangi is forever,” says Marama Davidson.

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