Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill Submission Builder

This submission builder will produce a PDF letter for you to submit to the Justice Select Committee on the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill. 

You may find it helpful to first get some ideas by reading some Short Legal Opinions written by our Māori Academic Staff at the Auckland Law School, Waipapa Taumata Rau. You can find a link to them here: https://sites.google.com/terakauture.org.nz/submissionresources

The aim of a Select Committee Submission is to give your feedback on the Bill, especially any specialised feedback you may have from your unique perspective.

Your contribution by making a submission is important, and will contribute to the historic protest against this Bill which attempts to takahī on our rights and relationship as Tāngata Whenua & Tāngata Tiriti.

Your introduction should include:

1. Who you are & a sentence or two on your background/perspective.

Examples: 

My name is Hone Smith, I am a Lawyer from Auckland and have been practicing for 25 years.

My name is Mihi Henry, I am of Ngāti Raukawa descent, I am an active member of my community in Tokoroa, and have been a marae committee member for my marae for 10 years. 

*Putting something here that speaks to your position in your community is impactful.*

2. An introductory sentence on:

(A) Why you think the Bill is not good law; and/or

(B) How the Bill will negatively impact your community if passed.

You will unpack these sentences below in the 'Reasons' section.

Examples:

This Bill does not encapsulate the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi.

This Bill erases more than 40 years of Court decisions and research. 

This bill is a breach of the original agreement, where parties who did not sign the original agreement are now attempting to redefine it many years later without consent from both sides.

*Using bullet points (-) here can be helpful*

 

Enter your introduction below: 

Your Reasons Paragraph should include the reasoning for each of the 'introductory sentences' you put above.

For example, if you said:

This bill is a breach of the original agreement, where parties who did not sign the original agreement are now attempting to redefine it many years later without consent from both sides.

You need to give some reasoning/elaborate:

This bill is a breach of the original agreement, where parties who did not sign the original agreement are now attempting to redefine it many years later without consent from both sides.

- Te Tiriti o Waitangi was agreed to by 500 Māori Chiefs and Governor Hobson on behalf of the British Crown. This Bill wants to determine the meaning of The Treaty by a vote of 5 million New Zealanders, the majority of whom are not Māori. If an agreement is to be basically redefined, it should be these original parties – Māori Chiefs and the Crown.

- Further, to redefine an agreement should require consent from BOTH parties. Even if it was the original parties or their representatives rewriting these Principles, it is clear that Māori do not consent to these proposed principles.

*Providing statistics and examples are really impactful here*

*Using bullet points (-) is helpful if you are writing a longer paragraph*

 

Enter your Reasons below: 

Finally, you should put Recommendations for the Committee regarding the Bill. 

This could be as simple as one sentence, for example:

For the above reasons, I recommend to the Committee that the Bill should not succeed.

You could also recommend actions be taken regarding the legal process of the Bill. However, any recommendations should be relevant to the Bill, otherwise the Committee may overlook your submission.

 

Enter your Recommendations: