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Regulatory Standards Bill Claim Accepted For Urgency By Waitangi Tribunal With 12,000 Claimants Signed On
Pokere Paewai, Māori issues reporter
The group behind last year's Hīkoi mō Te Tiriti has been granted an urgent hearing at the Waitangi Tribunal regarding the Regulatory Standards Bill.
Over 12,000 people have registered as part of the claimant group after Toitū te Tiriti put out a tono, or request, on social media asking people to sign up for the claim.
The claim alleges that - if enacted - the bill would breach Te Tiriti and cause significant prejudice to Māori.
The Regulatory Standards Bill, which is yet to be introduced into Parliament, is part of the National and ACT coalition agreement.
A discussion document on the matter had been open for consultation to inform the drafting of the legislation, it includes a set of principles outlining what constitutes "responsible regulation," including rule of law, liberties, taking of property, taxes, fees and levies, role of courts, good law-making and regulatory stewardship.
A preliminary Treaty Impact Analysis conducted for the proposed bill noted it did not include a principle related to Te Tiriti and its role as part of good law-making.
Toitū te Tiriti spokesperson Eru Kapa-Kingi told RNZ the Bill would give the Minister of Regulation broad powers to review legislation which could have a negative effect on Te Tiriti in legislation.
"The point in going to the Tribunal is to enable the Tribunal to really investigate what is going on, what the intentions are, what the whakapapa is of this Bill as opposed to waiting for it end up in a First Reading in Parliament and then knowing that it is inevitably going to become law."
Toitū te Tiriti put out the call for people to sign up for the claim to give them an opportunity to participate in a different way than last November's hīkoi, he said.
"It's an avenue to provide connection to the case, to the claim. Similar to class actions that have been brought by other groups of people in a civil jurisdiction... this is kind of like a Māori class action I guess."
Kapa-Kingi said it's not too late for people to sign up to be a claimant.
The Minister for Regulation David Seymour said given the Bill hasn't been introduced yet it's hard to know what Toitū te Tiriti want to talk about.
"Putting that aside, the gist of the bill is to require politicians and officials to ask and answer certain questions before they place restrictions on citizens' freedoms.
"What problem are we trying to solve? What are the costs and benefits? Who pays the costs and gets the benefits? What restrictions are being placed on the use and exchange of private property?
"If they've got a problem with that, I'll be interested to hear it, but I suspect this is just another publicity stunt from a Māori Party protest group."
But Kapa-Kingi said the lack of information around the Bill is itself a source of anxiety for Māori.
"If there's no information or little information then those voids are often filled by assumptions and we can make pretty valid or accurate assumptions in terms of the ACT Party's agenda given the policy directions and objectives that that Party has."
From Toitū te Tiriti's perspective the Regulatory Standards Bill seems like the 'more covert, but more aggressive version of the Treaty Principles Bill,' which was voted down at Second Reading, he said.
Once the Bill is introduced to Parliament the Waitangi Tribunal loses its jurisdiction to examine it.
"This is the only time and the perfect time for us to be making a claim through the Tribunal and is also why the Tribunal has granted urgency, knowing that this is a small window and if we don't take the opportunity now to in a robust manner analyse this Bill and the effects that it's going to have on Te Tiriti o Waitangi and tangata whenua then we've basically lost our chance," Kapa-Kingi said.
The one-day hearing will take place on the 6th of June at the Waitangi Tribunal Offices in Wellington.
The Regulatory Standards Bill is expected to be introduced to the House by the end of June under the government's quarterly action plan.
RNZ
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