David Seymour: ACT Party leader on the party's bid to scrap the Waitangi Tribunal if elected

The ACT Party is looking to scrap the Waitangi Tribunal if elected, and leader David Seymour has claimed its original purpose has gone.

The party intends to limit the Tribunal to claims lodged before September 2008, and then it would be dis-established for good once those are sorted.

Seymour explained that he's looking to remove the Tribunal's jurisdiction over 'contemporary claims', where activists critique the Government. 

"That ends straight away, and then we leave them on a sort of skeletal basis until they finish these remaining claims, bearing in mind there's no new claims, because they all had to be in by 2008."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
ACT has promised to scrap the Waitangi Tribunal if it's
re-elected into government, but only once all claims have been settled.
The ACT leader, David Seymour, is with us.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
Hey, David. Hey, Heather.

Speaker 1 (00:09):
When is it likely that all claims will be settled?

Speaker 2 (00:13):
That is very hard to know because Ngapuhi still haven't
got a mandate. It's not really something the government can control.
I've been to the odd Ngapuhi meeting and it's a
case of how long is a piece of string.

Speaker 1 (00:26):
So it potentially is years, if not decades, right?

Speaker 2 (00:29):
Absolutely, and that's why a critical part of our policy
that may have been missed is to remove their jurisdiction
over what they call contemporary claims, where activists critique the
government of the day according to their reckons. That ends
straight away, and then we leave them on a sort
of skeletal basis until they finish those remaining claims, bearing

(00:52):
in mind there's no new claims because they all have
to be in by 2008. Most have been done since then.
And then at the end of that final claim, which
will almost certainly be Ngapuhi, that's the end of the
Waitangi Tribunal, and we can have one law for all
and one future together.

Speaker 1 (01:07):
Was the Waitangi Tribunal not actually established to look at
contemporary claims?

Speaker 2 (01:13):
Yeah, it certainly was, but I don't think that the
likes of Matt Rata, who were in Parliament at the time,
would recognise what it's doing today. We've had the Waitangi
Tribunal frequently look harass the elected government, say that if
we make a law it's an improper use of kāwāna
tanga or government. The people that established it in 1975

(01:35):
were actually Democrats. They were old school Labour people who
believed that political authority should only be wielded by those
who were subject to free and fair elections. Not a
Waitangi Tribunal that's become in its own mind almost a
parallel government.

Speaker 1 (01:52):
I take your point on it and I would like
frankly to see the back of it too But if
it was set up to look at contemporary claims and
you are stopping it from looking at contemporary claims, why
not just wind it up instead of tying it to
what's going on with Ngapuhi? Just get rid of it now.

Speaker 2 (02:07):
Well, I've always been a supporter of the historical claims.
I think some things were done that were wrong and
those wrongs should be righted. I think it's actually a
good thing that New Zealand has been able to forensically
look through its history and say, yep, fair cop, that
was wrong. We will give you a partial compensation for
that and then move on. I think we should allow

(02:30):
those who, you know, in good faith registered their claims
back in 2008 to see them played out just like
every other iwi has. But when it comes to this
political activism, that should stop straight away. And I think
the other way you might think about it is Look,
you know, people say that there still needs to be

(02:50):
protection for Maori rights. But if New Zealanders have their
rights protected by democracy and the court system and the
rule of law, which we mostly do, then there's no
need for something different for Maori. Unless, of course, you
believe that Maori are different people with a different standard
of citizenship and different rights from other human beings in
New Zealand. which I strongly reject.

Speaker 1 (03:12):
All right. Hey, David, thank you very much. Appreciate your time.
David Seymour, ACT Party Leader, 16 past five. Let's get
to the Warriors next.