A rights law is rejected in New Zealand following significant anger.

At its second reading, a contentious measure that aimed to rewrite the founding document of New Zealand, which established the rights of both Māori and non-Māori in the nation, was defeated.

The Treaty Principles Bill was rejected by a government committee recommending against its passage, and it was voted down 112 votes to 11.

More than 40,000 people participated in a rally outside parliament last year in opposition to the proposed legislation, which aimed to formally establish the principles of the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi.

With the majority of the major political parties pledging to vote it down, it was already widely anticipated that the bill would fail.

At Thursday’s second reading, only members of the right-wing Act Party, which tabled it, voted in favor of it. David Seymour, the leader of Act, has pledged to keep up his efforts on the subject.

“I believe this Bill or something like it will pass one day because there are not good arguments against its contents,” he said on social media.

During a debate held in parliament before the vote in November, passions were high. Willie Jackson, a Labour MP, was ordered to leave when he refused to take back his remarks accusing Seymour of being a “liar.”

While Te Pāti Māori [The Māori Party] MP Hana Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke, who garnered international prominence for initiating a haka in parliament during the bill’s first reading, stated the proposed legislation had been “annihilated,” Labour leader Chris Hipkins warned it would eternally “be a stain on our country.”

“Instead of dividing and conquering, this bill has backfired and united communities across the motu [country] in solidarity for our founding agreement and what it represents,” a statement later released by Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson said.

Following the release of the final report by a select committee that had been investigating the proposed legislation, which found that over 300,000 contributions had been made on it, the great majority of which were against it, the second reading took place.

The New Zealand parliament has never received so many responses to proposed legislation.

Although the Treaty’s tenets have never been codified into law, its fundamental ideas have gradually been incorporated into various laws in an attempt to provide Māori with compensation for the wrongs committed against them during colonization.

The three primary tenets of the Act’s proposed legislation were that everyone is equal before the law and entitled to equal protection, that the Crown would uphold the rights of Māori at the time the Treaty was signed, and that the New Zealand government and parliament have the authority to rule and enact laws.

According to the party, the bill would “continue the process of defining the Treaty principles” rather than changing the Treaty itself. They think this would promote social cohesiveness and equality for all New Zealanders.

Former center-right National Party finance minister Ruth Richardson was one among many who supported it, telling the select committee that the proposed legislation was “a bill of consequence whose time has come.”

Although the Treaty itself was unquestionable, she contended that its tenets were a “relatively modern matter” and that, up until now, the courts, not parliament, had primarily interpreted them.

“There is a new imperative in New Zealand on the cultural front, the necessity to address and correct Treaty overreach that has increasingly become wayward and wrong,” she stated.

On the other hand, the bill’s opponents think it will harm Māori and widen social gaps.

The legislation “strips the fabric of where we’ve been heading for in the last three decades at improving our people’s [Māori’s] ability to gain education, gain warm housing, gain good health,” Sharon Hawke, daughter of the late Māori activist and MP Joe Hawke, told the select committee on behalf of the Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei hapū [sub-tribe].”

The idea of a shared future for all New Zealanders was “polluted” by the measure, she continued.

“We will continue to show our opposition to this,” she added.

Among the main concerns raised by the public in their submissions to the select committee were that it was incompatible with the Treaty’s principles and that it had pushed equality with equity while ignoring social inequalities, such as those brought about by colonization’s legacy.

Concerns were also raised regarding whether the bill would harm New Zealand’s standing abroad and how far it adhered to international law.

In contrast, bill supporters pointed out that there is now a lack of clarity and assurance regarding the Treaty’s tenets and the significance of equality for all.

They added that a referendum was necessary to allow for a national discussion on the Treaty, which David Seymour feels is still necessary.

The main party in the ruling coalition in New Zealand, National, supported the Treaty Principles Bill on its first reading in November. They had pledged to support it as part of a coalition agreement with Act, but they did not go any further.

The National Party’s leader and prime minister, Christopher Luxon, has previously stated that he didn’t like anything about the measure. He said earlier in the day that it was time to move on from the second reading, even if he wasn’t present.

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