Waitangi Day, Treaty Relations, and new appointments to the Waitangi Tribunal w/ the National Party’s Tom Rutherford: 11th February, 2025

Waitangi Day was last week on Thursday, and to commemorate the anniversary of the signing of Te Tiriti we saw MPs attending various events across the country. During these events we also saw many speaking out against the government’s approach to Treaty relations, particularly the treaty principles bill. 

We also saw a series of new appointments to the Waitangi Tribunal at the end of last month. While the new appointments and outgoing members are each uniquely qualified for the position, some have noted that many of the outgoing members have academic experience and knowledge that will not be replicated by the new appointments. 

Wire host Castor spoke about each of these issues in this week’s catchup with the National Party’s Tom Rutherford, beginning by asking about what National’s MPs got up to on Waitangi Day.