Ensuring Treaty references are consistent

The Government has agreed to amend 19 pieces of legislation to ensure references to the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi are clear and consistent, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith says.

"Over the last 30 or 40 years, Parliament has made all sorts of references to the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi. Sometimes it's 'honour', or 'have regard to', or 'give effect to', or 'take into account'. We need to create some consistency here, in the interests of increasing certainty and supporting compliance. A core foundation of our success as a nation is predictability in the law.

"As part of the National-NZ First coalition agreement, the Government agreed to conduct a comprehensive review of all legislation that includes 'the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi', and replace all such references with specific words relating to the relevance and application of the Treaty, or repeal the references.

"28 acts, such as the Conservation Act, were originally in scope of the review, but this was reduced to 19. Some Acts are being reviewed through other processes, and all existing full and final Treaty settlements are being excluded.

"The Advisory Group has completed its review and provided the Government with a variety of recommendations.

"The Government has agreed to amend two references to be more specific, repeal seven references, and specify no higher standard than to 'take into account' should be used in provisions to the Treaty of Waitangi across ten acts.

"The Government has also agreed a reference to both the Treaty of Waitangi and te Tiriti o Waitangi is preferable and should be used in all relevant provisions going forward.

"These decisions have been made as a first step. Conversations will continue around how this review could go further in the future.

"We are now consulting with Iwi, and the legislation will go through a full select committee process where all New Zealanders can have their say."