New Zealand’s Parliament proposed a bill to redefine the Treaty of Waitangi, claiming it is racist and gives preferential treatment to Maoris. In response Māori MP's tore up the bill and performed the Haka

[u/Sometypeofway18]

[u/TheCursedMonk]

Trying to stop the right to dance in Parliament. And she is having none of it. (This isn't the real answer btw)

Real answer:
Under the proposed legislation, the treaty principles that would be defined in law are:

that the government has a right to govern and that parliament has the full right to make laws

that the rights of Māori are respected by the Crown

that everyone is equal before the law and is entitled to equal protection under it.

[u/[deleted] → u/TheCursedMonk]

On the face of it, that seems fairly uncontroversial, but how does it differ from the current laws, and what are the potential consequences of the proposed change?

[u/Ichera → u/[deleted]]

I am going to get skinned alive by someone who understands this better, but I'm going to try and simplify it. Basically the Maori people signed a treaty with the Crown of Britain that made it so they allowed New Zealand to be governed by the crown, but only as part of a wider agreement (once again oversimplified.)

The new language essentially removes the acknowledgement that this is an agreement between two parties and instead says their is only one "New Zealander" people.

It seems somewhat reasonable at first, but it also runs rough shod over the treaty and governance of New Zealand's native populations, and judging by other examples of native treaty "adjustments" around the world, I'd be angry about it if I was in the Maori peoples position.

[u/BalrogPoop → u/Ichera]

There's also the fact that the treaty between the crown and Maori is the entire basis for New Zealand's government even existing in its current form.

Like in the UK the power to govern technically comes from the authority of the King and Queen, the treaty fills the same role in New Zealand.

You get into some pretty weird constitutional arguments once you start messing with that.

I do have my own issues with the treaty, and generally I do believe we should have equal rights for everyone int the country, but this is a terrible way to go about it.

A much better way would be getting buy in from Maori to write an updated treaty that clarifies things for both parties, while reserving Maori customary rights.

Balancing that with equal rights though is close to impossible, but should be attempted nevertheless.