Kaea Hudson writes about the burden and struggle of writing submissions about law reform by the current coalition Government.

Since the election of the coalition government, it feels like every other news story is about what laws are being added,  changed, and removed at an alarmingly fast rate. We are told that our protests do not represent the majority view, but that we can be heard through written and oral submissions. 

But how do submissions contribute to the law-making process? How are Māori hapū, whānau and individuals getting involved? And how is the government responding? 

A submission is one way for the public to give their input and recommendations on prospective laws. Submissions go to a Select Committee, a group within Parliament that writes reports on bills (draft legislation), collects public input, research and recommends changes.^[1] The Select Committee process is one of the main vehicles for the public voice to directly influence law-making in Aotearoa, but it is not guaranteed that feedback will be implemented.

Given our long history of being subject to the whims of legislation, Māori have always fought for a seat at the table and space to be heard. Gone are the days when we relied solely on our MPs or larger governing bodies to communicate our views. Nowadays, social media is used as a tool to educate and mobilise our communities to submit to Parliament. Prospective bills and legal jargon is translated into accessible language that allows us to flood Select Committees with our kōrero, before we start banging on their doors. 

In the year of the three-headed taniwha, new laws are being pushed through almost every week. These laws seek to alter or repeal important aspects of our legal system, specifically as they relate to Te Tiriti and Māori rights. The government justifies these policies by saying that they are simply giving effect to their campaign promises, which a majority of New Zealanders implicitly agreed to when voting them in. However, myself and others, see right through this excuse. My public law lecturers can attest to the fact that I understand what a majority vote is. I therefore also understand that the recognition of minority rights will always be an uphill battle, especially under a government which only recognises its own values, rather than those of the country as a whole. Treaty obligations notwithstanding, there are major differences between being a political party and the reigning Crown government. By the government’s logic, until Māori make up a majority of our voting population, our rights will be put on the backburner in the name of ‘democracy’. This is not democracy, it is bad law-making. 

As an opinionated individual and a member of Ngā Kaiaronui (Ngā Rangahautira’s submission writing ohu), I continue to find creative ways to convey this message. The rate at which Parliament is creating bills has forced our nose to the grindstone to pump out submissions. At the time of writing, we have submitted on the Fast Track Approvals Bill, the Māori Wards and Constituencies Bill and the Oranga Tamariki (Repeal of 7AA) Bill this year alone, no doubt with more to come. We aren’t the only ones putting in the work. The controversial Fast Track Approvals Bill received almost 27,000 written submissions, with the Committee splitting in two to make room for over 1,000 oral submissions.^[2]  Much of this response is due to Māori uplifting and educating each other, in ways that our country’s civics education (or lack thereof) wishes it could. Not only are we waving flags and marching to Parliament grounds, but we are also putting pen to paper (or fingertips to keyboards) in record-high numbers. 

Even when enough of us do submit and the majority of submitters disagree with a bill, the government still has every right to ignore our advice. The Māori Wards and Constituencies Bill was resoundingly unpopular, especially among Māori communities, for its unfair treatment of Māori Wards. News stories detailed the upset of local councils and local people who knew the true value of Māori Wards; a way to guarantee minority representation at the community decision-making level. But reinstating binding polls on Māori Wards was part of the coalition agreement, so I guess it had to be done (not). The Select Committee report spends eight pages detailing why people disagreed with the Bill, quoting submitters to drive the point home.^[3] And yet, the Justice Committee recommended that the Bill be passed ‘by a majority’ – and by ‘majority’, they meant the majority of the committee, not a majority of the submitters.

What’s worse, that is only the bills they allow us to submit on. The coalition government is being criticised for its use of urgency, which rushes bills through the law-making process and skips important checks and balances, including the Select Committee hearings. Select Committees are a crucial mechanism of the law-making process which enables public scrutiny of  bills. We’ve seen how the Select Committee process has been truncated; for the Māori Wards and Constituencies Bill there was less than five working days to submit – to skip it altogether is another massive blow. Given the importance of public input, especially from Māori when many new laws are Māori targeted, circumventing this process is the final nail in the coffin.

Hei whakakapi; it is clear that the government is using its power to restrict our voices or ignore them entirely. We are kept uneducated about law-making systems and when we do discover how they work, the government subverts them. Now, more than ever, is the time to raise our voices inside and outside Parliament’s walls. The time of the “hīkois from hell” has come.^[4] Record your whakaaro, sign your name, and press ‘submit’. 

Ngā kupu āpiti - Notes

[1] Pāremata Aotearoa | New Zealand Parliament “How a bill becomes law” (22 January 2016) <www.parliament.nz>.

[2] Komiti Whiriwhiri Take Taiao | Environment Committee “Environment Committee begins hearings on the Fast-track Approvals Bill” (press release, 2 May 2024).

[3] Local Government (Electoral Legislation and Māori Wards and Māori Constituencies) Amendment Bill (46-2) (select committee report) at 7-14.

[4] Audrey Young “John Key: Dropping Maori seats would mean 'hikois from hell’” New Zealand Herald (online ed, 22 August 2014).

Author: Kaea Hudson

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