{"id":429185,"date":"2026-05-15T16:09:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T16:09:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/429185\/"},"modified":"2026-05-15T16:09:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T16:09:11","slug":"major-breach-tribunal-says-treaty-overhaul-in-education-law-may-be-worse-than-treaty-principles-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/429185\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Major breach\u2019: Tribunal says Treaty overhaul in education law \u2018may be worse\u2019 than Treaty Principles Bill"},"content":{"rendered":"

The broader Treaty clause review faces a separate and urgent Waitangi Tribunal inquiry.<\/a><\/p>\n

Earlier this month, the tribunal granted urgency to the wider review process, saying proposed changes to Treaty clauses across legislation carried constitutional significance and warranted urgent scrutiny.<\/p>\n

The tribunal said the education law inquiry initially focused on the repeal of school boards\u2019 Treaty obligations and changes to Te M\u0101taiaho, the New Zealand Curriculum.<\/p>\n

\"JusticeJustice Minister Paul Goldsmith announced the Government would proceed with changes despite the Waitangi Tribunal’s recommendations. Photo \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

But on the eve of hearings in April, Crown lawyers revealed that the Cabinet had already agreed to a much broader package of Treaty clause changes across the Education and Training Act without consulting M\u0101ori.<\/p>\n

Those proposals included downgrading Treaty obligations in multiple sections of the act to no more than a requirement to \u201ctake into account\u201d Te Tiriti, changing references to include both texts of the Treaty, and amending or repealing some Treaty obligations altogether.<\/p>\n

The report also examined possible changes to broader purpose clauses within the act that currently require parts of the education system to \u201chonour\u201d or \u201cgive effect to\u201d Te Tiriti.<\/p>\n

In its letter to ministers, the tribunal said the Crown had failed to engage meaningfully with M\u0101ori before making decisions of constitutional significance.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have found the Crown\u2019s approach to the reforms has breached the Treaty principles of partnership, active protection and good government, and caused prejudice to M\u0101ori,\u201d the tribunal wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe recommend you correct course and immediately halt the advancement of the proposed amending legislation.\u201d<\/p>\n

It said that, if changes to Treaty clauses were objectively needed, they should instead be developed through \u201cmeaningful engagement with M\u0101ori in their co-design\u201d.<\/p>\n

The report was particularly critical of the Government\u2019s consultation process, noting that Cabinet decisions were made without broader M\u0101ori engagement and despite earlier warnings from the Waitangi Tribunal during the Ng\u0101 M\u0101t\u0101pono inquiry into the Treaty clause review process.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Waitangi Tribunal has urged ministers to halt reforms and begin meaningful co-design with M\u0101ori. Photo \/ Te Kakenga Kawiti-Bishara<\/p>\n

It found the Crown pursued a \u201cTreaty-inconsistent course\u201d by engaging only with the National Iwi Chairs Forum after substantive decisions had already been made.<\/p>\n

The tribunal also criticised Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith\u2019s reliance on the select committee process as sufficient consultation, describing that position as \u201cmanifestly inadequate and an insult to M\u0101ori\u201d.<\/p>\n

The report said ministers proceeded despite repeated official warnings that timeframes were too constrained, policy analysis was incomplete, and not enough was known about the potential impacts on M\u0101ori interests and the M\u0101ori-Crown relationship.<\/p>\n

In one of its strongest findings, the tribunal compared the reforms to the Government\u2019s controversial Treaty Principles Bill.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn summary, the decision to diminish the Crown\u2019s Treaty obligations in the act to one of the lowest standards of \u2018take into account\u2019 \u2026 represents a major breach of the Treaty and its principles.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is as bad as the Treaty Principles Bill in its attempt to erase the Crown\u2019s duty<\/a> to comply with the agreement made between M\u0101ori and the Crown in 1840. It may even be worse, because the Treaty Principles Bill, in theory, was never going to be enacted.\u201d<\/p>\n

The tribunal said the proposed reforms formed part of a broader pattern of \u201cTreaty-inconsistent\u201d lawmaking by the Government, pointing to reforms involving Oranga Tamariki, M\u0101ori wards, the Marine and Coastal Area Act and the Regulatory Standards Bill.<\/p>\n

Among the key recommendations, it called on the Government to:<\/p>\n

\u2013 Immediately halt the advancement of the amending legislation intended to effect the Education and Training Act;<\/p>\n

\u2013 Meaningfully engage and co-design any future amendments with M\u0101ori;<\/p>\n

\u2013 Take urgent steps to repair the M\u0101ori-Crown relationship.<\/p>\n

NZEI Te Riu Roa president Ripeka Lessels welcomed the findings, saying they confirmed M\u0101ori had been sidelined in major education decisions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe welcome the tribunal\u2019s findings, which clearly outline how the Government\u2019s recent actions have bypassed M\u0101ori and undermined the principle of partnership and active protection.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy moving unilaterally to downgrade Te Tiriti in education, the Government has ignored the principles of good government and caused direct prejudice to M\u0101ori.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is now important that the Crown heeds this call to halt the proposed changes to the Education and Training Act and begins the work of repairing the relationship with M\u0101ori.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lessels said educators expected the Crown to honour its constitutional obligations and uphold an education system that served \u0101konga M\u0101ori.<\/p>\n

The tribunal noted that further findings could follow during stage two of the urgent inquiry, which continues to examine the repeal of school boards\u2019 Treaty obligations and changes to Te M\u0101taiaho, the New Zealand Curriculum.<\/p>\n

\"EducationEducation Minister Erica Stanford. Photo \/ Mark Mitchell<\/p>\n

Education Minister Erica Stanford has been approached for comment.<\/p>\n

Less than half an hour before the embargo on the tribunal\u2019s report lifted, Goldsmith announced that the Government would press ahead with wider Treaty clause changes<\/a> across 19 pieces of legislation, signalling no intention to halt the reforms, despite the tribunal\u2019s recommendations.<\/p>\n

He and other ministers received a copy of the report before it was published publicly.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Government has agreed to amend two references to be more specific, repeal seven references, and specify no higher standard than to \u2018take into account\u2019 should be used in provisions to the Treaty of Waitangi across 10 acts,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Education and Training Act remains among the laws affected, with proposed changes including repealing section 536A(1) and downgrading Treaty standards in sections 9 and 535B(a) to \u201ctake into account\u201d.<\/p>\n

Goldsmith said the Government was seeking greater \u201cconsistency\u201d in how Treaty clauses operated across legislation.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cOver the last 30 or 40 years, Parliament has made all sorts of references to the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi. Sometimes it\u2019s \u2018honour\u2019, or \u2018have regard to\u2019, or \u2018give effect to\u2019, or \u2018take into account\u2019. We need to create some consistency here.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said consultation with iwi was underway and the legislation would proceed through the select committee process.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The broader Treaty clause review faces a separate and urgent Waitangi Tribunal inquiry. Earlier this month, the tribunal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":429186,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5195,16574,4378,84,78,8307,661,7810,2720,111,43,139,69,105531,5256,104284,3227,312,417,131,38961,6847,40866],"class_list":["post-429185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-be","tag-bill","tag-breach","tag-education","tag-in","tag-law","tag-major","tag-may","tag-mori","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-originally","tag-overhaul","tag-principles","tag-published","tag-says","tag-television","tag-than","tag-treaty","tag-tribunal","tag-worse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=429185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429185\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/429186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=429185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=429185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=429185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}