Submission on the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill

Whānau Manaaki opposes the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill (“the Bill”) and calls for it to be rejected. We do this because the Bill is unconstitutional, inequitable, and has the potential to reverse much of the important work that has been undertaken over the past few decades to increase understanding of and support for Te Reo Māori and Te Ao Māori. The results of this will be detrimental for all tamariki in Aotearoa New Zealand, both now and in the future.

Te Tiriti o Waitangi is the founding document of our nation and the Government has no mandate to inflict such fundamental change on our country. The bill has been drafted without any meaningful consultation with Maoridom as Treaty partner and this amounts to a unilateral attempt to vary, amend or alter the Treaty. This is unconstitutional.

Whānau Manaaki is a Free Kindergarten Association that provides early childhood education services to around 5,000 children each day. We also operate various social service and health programmes to support families in our regions with social support, jobs and training, financial mentoring, food, free used clothing and household goods. As an organisation dedicated to the education and care of babies and young children and their families and the wellbeing of whānau and communities, we oppose the bill because it threatens to erase the Tiriti guarantee of tino rangatiratanga, prioritise formal equality over equity, and remove a key legal framework that has supported informed pro-equity social policies, including in education. This includes our world-leading national early childhood curriculum, Te Whāriki.
As a bicultural document that recognises the importance of nurturing language, culture and identity to ensure educational success, Te Whāriki would be undermined by the consequential changes imposed by this Bill.

The Bill threatens the foundations of our education system and equity in Aotearoa New Zealand in multiple direct and indirect ways. This will have a negative impact on not only tamariki Māori, but on all tamariki from all cultures who live in Aotearoa New Zealand.

To this end, we urge the Select Committee to:
• Recommend that this Bill not proceed.
• Reaffirm Te Tiriti o Waitangi as a founding document of Aotearoa.