The Justice Committee has made further decisions about the submissions process for the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill.

Hearings

The committee expects to receive a large number of submissions on this bill, including a large number of submitters asking to speak to the committee. It is possible that only a small portion of people asking to speak to the committee will have the opportunity to do so. The committee intends to decide how to select submitters to invite to hearings in January 2025, after the deadline for written submissions.

The committee plans to hold hearings in the week starting Monday, 27 January and the weeks starting 10, 17 and 24 February 2025.

The committee intends to hold all hearings at Parliament and via Zoom video-conference.

Offensive language

The committee has agreed criteria for submissions that will not be accepted in terms of offensive language. These decisions reflect the committee’s desire to facilitate a measured debate, and mirror the rules for debate among MPs in Parliament.

The committee will not accept submissions containing:

• Racist material, particularly overt racism and characterising people as racist.
• Strong swear words.
• Abusive personal reflections against MPs or other individuals.

The committee will decide whether a submission meets the above criteria. Submissions that are judged to include any of the above will be returned to the submitter. Submitters can re-submit their submissions without offensive language in this case if they wish to.

Anonymous submissions

The committee will not, as a general rule, accept anonymous submissions. This includes submissions made only under a first name, using only initials, or using a name that is clearly not a real name. Anonymous submissions will be returned to the submitter, if it is possible to do so.

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