Government Sacrificing Hapū, Iwi Tiriti Rights For Offshore Profits
Press Release – Te Pati Maori
Ngarewa-Packer called out the Governments political gambling, We all want economic prosperity for our communities, but enabling unproven, speculative ventures to bypass environmental due process signals desperation not development .
Te Pāti Māori is demanding to know how the government can justify fast tracking a replica of a seabed mining application that was already rejected by the supreme court in 2021.
'Trans-Tasman Resources, a company with no operational experience, is back to the table with the same outdated and incomplete data the Supreme Court ruled against, but this time they're being waved through a political back door' said Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer.
'The Fast-track panel is being asked to assess their application based on environmental assumptions that are nearly a decade old. There's no new seabed monitoring, no updated marine mammal data, and no clear understanding of cumulative risks to the moana.'
In the application lodged on the EPA website last Friday, even TTR's own experts admit gaps in data on endangered species like whales and seabirds. Yet, the Government continues to promote this proposal as 'economic growth' while ignoring the real environmental cost.
'This is high-risk capital with low public return and what's worse will be signed off by three Ministers with no obligation to heed hapū, Iwi and whānau concerns. The government has trampled Te Tiriti and betrays all Zealanders, by sacrificing our coastal waters for offshore investors.'
The 2025 Budget, announced on Thursday, saw an additional $200 million taxpayer funded hand out to offshore oil and gas companies.
Ngarewa-Packer called out the Government's political gambling, 'We all want economic prosperity for our communities, but enabling unproven, speculative ventures to bypass environmental due process signals desperation not development .'
Once the EPA expert panel is confirmed, the recognised Iwi and Councils have 20 working days to make a submission.
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Rawiri Waititi speaks in the debate on the Privileges Committee's majority recommendation of parliamentary suspensions for three Te Pāti Māori MPs. The noose is a reference to a tupuna who was hanged in Mount Eden Prison. Photo: VNP / Louis Collins The fate of the three Te Pāti Māori MPs who performed a haka during the vote on the first reading of the Principles of Treaty of Waitangi Bill last November was decided on Thursday , following a long, and at times intense debate. The Privileges hearing outcome was something the Government clearly wanted finished, and it ended the week. Leader of the House Chris Bishop, kicked off Thursday's debate by asking the House to bring down the curtain on an issue that has lingered in Parliament for seven months. The debate boiled down to whether the recommended punishments - all unprecedented - were fair, or even wise. Before the debate paused a fortnight ago, the positions of the two largest parties ( National and Labour ) had been outlined. The Privileges Committee Chair, Judith Collins had stood by the recommended punishments, while Chris Hipkins moved an amendment to reduce them to more historically usual levels. Some of the speeches stepped beyond a simple defence or opposition. Some were personal, some philosophical, some emotional. A few moments are noted below. Labour's Duncan Webb, who is Deputy Chair of the Privileges Committee, is a former jurist and went for the dissect-the-facts approach. It felt like a trial defence summary. "It's well known that those three members chose not to attend the Privileges Committee or provide any explanation. They weren't required to attend the committee. They were not called to attend and therefore did not have to. Whilst they can't claim credit for cooperation - nor can they say they were denied an opportunity to explain - neither can they be punished. "It appears that some members of the committee may feel affronted that the members didn't come to the committee when they were invited. They may even consider that the members were defiant in not attending. "However, they were not required to attend. This is no justification for the imposition of a punishment that is disproportionate and arbitrary." Te Tai Tonga MP Tākuta Ferris took Te Pāti Māori's first call, and took a constitutional approach, questioning the underpinnings of the institution making the judgement. "This debate is not about a haka. It is not about a suspension. It's not about the interruption of a vote. "It is, at its heart, about the fact that this House continues to ignore Te Tiriti o Waitangi, that this House continues to ignore Māori sovereignty, and that this House continues to ignore all of the constitutional rights that flow forth from those two things. "The fact of the matter is simple: without Māori sovereignty, there is no Te Tiriti o Waitangi. "Without Te Tiriti o Waitangi, there is no constitutional right for the presence of the Crown in this part of the world. "Without the constitutional right, there is no Parliament." New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters is a harsh critic of Te Pāti Māori. There was a sense that the pot was boiling over as Peters, himself a member of the Privileges Committee, launched into Te Pāti Māori MPs. "No ordinary Māori, Māori, or non-Māori should accept the behaviour or the intent of this party of absolute extremists, screaming out that everybody else in the Parliament is here only by their behest. "Have a look in the mirror. Mr Ferris, look in the mirror. What is the majority of your DNA? What's the majority of your DNA? Well, if you're disgraced by your European DNA, we over here are not. We are proud of all sides of our background because we are New Zealanders first and foremost. As for blood quantum, if the cowboy hat wearer is an example of blood quantum, I'm going to a new biology class." Winston Peters speaks in the debate on the Privileges Committee's majority recommendation of parliamentary suspensions for three Te Pāti Māori MPs. Photo: VNP / Phil Smith Labour's Willie Jackson also focused his speech on Te Pāti Māori, playing what could be called the role of 'good cop' and encouraging them to compromise. "You know I love you, but a little bit of compromise could help the situation... I know it's hard to apologise, but I want to say to you Te Pāti Māori that not every single Māori in the country supports you and they don't support some of the strategy. "They love you, I love you, but some of the stuff is not going down well. "This is the centre and a celebration of the Westminster system, and I think our challenge - as, I think, you know - is that we have to imbue some of our Māori culture into the system. "We have to get a partnership going, and I don't think the kōrero so far is going to help with the partnership. You know, we have to get the House to embrace some of our values." Willie Jackson speaks in the debate on the Privileges Committee's majority recommendation of parliamentary suspensions for three Te Pāti Māori MPs. Photo: VNP / Phil Smith Former Speaker Adrian Rurawhe is also from Labour's Māori caucus. His speech was a change of pace and had a touch of elder statesman. He began by speaking of a new precedent set - a government majority within the privileges committee punishing the opposition. Raiwiri Waititi and Adrian Rurawhe chat during the debate on the Privileges Committee's majority recommendation of parliamentary suspensions for three Te Pāti Māori MPs. Photo: VNP / Louis Collins "There are no winners in this debate. Each party in this House might think they're winning by talking to the people that support them, but there are no winners in this debate - none - especially not this House. "The Privileges Committee of the future will have a new precedent, without a doubt - a new range of penalties against members who err in the future. You can guarantee that. "You can also guarantee that Governments of the day, in the future, will feel very free to use those penalties to punish their opponents. "This is what we are doing in the House today." The House also heard from the ACT party, who the Te Pāti Māori performed the haka in front of. One of the key points of contention was whether the ACT MPs were victims of intimidation. All three ACT MPs who spoke certainly thought so, with Karen Chhour, who compared the debate to an HR meeting. "I've listened to the speeches across this House, and the hate and the anger that's been chucked from both sides of this House, and it actually really saddens me - it really saddens me. Somebody can say that I don't have the right to stand here and speak, but that's what this place is about. "Four and a half years ago, when I had the privilege of being elected into this place, I felt that burden of what was expected of me when I came to this place, to represent the people that I wanted to come here to make a better life for." "This is what the Privileges Committee is there for - sort of like our HR, where we sit down and we discuss what the issue was and, hopefully, can come to a medium ground where there is a little bit of contrition shown from those who have had the accusations brought to them, and then a simple apology could be enough." Demanding an apology for behaviour found to be intimidating is actually one of the most common punishments recommended by the committee. 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She says the Privileges Committee process is not equipped to deal with the haka issue. Saturday Morning This week, Parliament took the unprecedented step of suspending both Te Pāti Māori leaders – Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi – for 21 days. Te Pāti Māori MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke was suspended for seven days – but had also been punished with a 24-hour suspension on the day over a haka all three had performed in Parliament, against the Treaty Principles Bill, in November. It is against the rules of the House for members to leave their seats during a debate – which all three did. Ngarewa-Packer told Saturday Morning that the 21-day suspension, which was seven times harsher than any previous sanction an MP has faced, was not proportionate. 'I think the backlash from the public, nationally and internationally, validates that,' she said. Previously, the longest suspension for an MP had been three days, given to the former prime minister Robert Muldoon for criticising the speaker in the 1980s. While New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said the duration of the suspension would have been lessened if the Te Pāti Māori MPs had apologised, Ngarewa-Packer said that was never requested by the Privileges Committee. 'What we have here is a situation where, and some are calling it Trumpism, we've been a lot more specific – we have an Atlas agenda that has not only crept in, it's stormed in on the shores of Aotearoa and some may not understand what that means, but this is just the extension of the attack on the treaty, on the attack on Indigenous voices. 'We made the point the whole way through when we started to see that they weren't going to be able to meet us halfway on anything, even a quarter of the way, on any of the requests for tikanga experts, for legal experts when we knew the bias of the committee.' Ngarewa-Packer added that the Privileges Committee process was not equipped to deal with the issue. 'We hit a nerve and we can call it a colonial nerve, we can call it institutional nerve… 'I think that this will be looked back on at some stage and say how ridiculous we looked back in 2025.' Ngarewa-Packer also added that the language from Peters during the debate on Thursday was 'all very deliberate' – 'and that's what we're contending with in Aotearoa'. 'Everyone should have a view but don't use the might of legislation and the power to be able to assert your racism and assert your anti-Māori, anti-Treaty agenda.' Peters had taken aim at Waititi on Thursday as 'the one in the cowboy hat' and 'scribbles on his face' in reference to his mataora moko. He said countless haka have taken place in Parliament but only after first consulting the Speaker. 'They told the media they were going to do it, but they didn't tell the Speaker did they?' Peters added that Te Pāti Māori were 'a bunch of extremists' and that 'New Zealand has had enough of them'. 'They don't want democracy, they want anarchy,' he said. 'They don't want one country, they don't want one law, they don't want one people.'
