ACT's Simon Court

On Friday the Waitangi Tribunal released an interim report which called for the ACT Party’s controversial Treaty Principals Bill to be scrapped. 

Some of the tribunal’s findings said the bill "is a solution to a problem that does not exist, it is fashioned upon a disingenuous historical narrative ;its policy rationales are unsustainable ; and its current text distorts the language of the Treaty / Te Tiriti.” 

Despite all of this, ACT Party leader David Seymour has welcomed the criticism, saying he’s open to encouraging ‘discussion and debate’ around the topic. 

For the weekly catch up with the ACT Party Producer Evie spoke to Simon Court why the party intends to move forward with the bill, in light of these scathing findings. 

They also discussed new sanctions for beneficiaries announced by the government last week, and why the ACT Party believes these should be even stricter than proposed. 

Earlier this year legislation was introduced to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. Section 7AA emphasises the importance of Māori youth being placed with families that represent their whakapapa, as well as honour principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. 

The ACT Party, and Minister for Children Karen Chhour say this section is putting children in danger, removing them from stable families to place them instead with whanau that align with their whakapapa and iwi. 

Oranga Tamariki say there is no empirical evidence to support these claims - causing widespread backlash, with many believing the move is simply pushing the ACT party’s ideologies. 

Today Ngāpuhi, Aotearoa’s largest iwi are on a hikoi to parliament in opposition to this repeal, saying it will disadvantage Māori rangatahi, who make up the majority of those in state care. 

For their weekly catch up producer Evie spoke to the ACT Party’s Simon Court about the intentions of the repeal, and the party’s feelings around the backlash.

Last week Associate Minister of Health, David Seymour, laid out his expectations for Pharmac for the upcoming year. 

Some of what was in his letter of expectations has caused much public discourse - particularly the point in which Seymour says Te Tiriti o Waitangi shouldn’t be considered in decision making at Pharmac. 

Te Pāti Māori has called for Seymour to step down from his role as Associate Minister of Health, and one of Pharmac’s directors, Anthony Jordan, has resigned from his role, saying the removal of Treaty principles from Pharmac did not align with his own morals and ethics. 

Given the overwhelming evidence of poorer health outcomes for Māori, producer Evie spoke to the ACT party’s Simon Court about the reasoning behind these expectations, and the party’s feelings about the backlash.

Last Tuesday, Broadcasting Minister Paul Goldsmith announced the Government would progress with the former Labour government’s Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill with amendments to "support our local media companies to earn revenue for the news they produce".

This announcement saw ACT invoke the “agree to disagree” provision of their coalition agreement by opposing the bill. Wire host Sofia spoke to the ACT Party’s Cameron Luxton about why the party opposes this bill, and what agreeing to disagree means for the coalition’s relationships. 

Additionally, she asked Cameron about last week’s announcements about changes to housing policy by "flooding" the country with new homes where Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced six key changes. These include freeing up land for development, removing unnecessary planning barriers and relaxing standards. 

Lastly she asked Cameron about his member’s bill, the Easter Trading Bill, which has been drawn from the ballot. The bill would liberalise easter trading laws, allowing New Zealanders who want to trade over Easter to do so.