Rob Campbell
It seems that, whether we like it or not, we are bound into a debate about Te Tiriti. We are bound into it by a Coalition agreement cleverly negotiated by a small party but which the other parties involved are happy to exploit. The debate will stretch into, and beyond, the next election. My expectation is that it will be more divisive than decisive.
The bill introduced this week by Act about the “principles” is the central focus. I think there is a reasonable chance that, on this matter, the National and NZ First parties will stick to what they have said and not support the bill beyond select committee stage.
Act knows this and quite openly positions its bill as an opening move. It will test not so much the temperature in Parliament, but the wider public sentiment. There will be some support, conceptual if not textual, for the approach in the wider public. If you don’t think so try putting up a social media post on the topic. They are preparing the ground for later exploitation of that support for political gain. It only needs 10 percent of the voters to be enthused by it to improve their standing after all. As the tyre ad that seems always to be on my car radio says: “I think we can do better than that”.