Pitched as a way to give "every New Zealander the same rights and dignity", ACT's Treaty Principles Bill set out to define the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi in statute and, originally, to put them to a national referendum.

The Policy: ACT Treaty Principles Bill — 2023 Election →

Note on a charged subject: this is a constitutionally contested policy. The positions below are attributed to the people and bodies who hold them; nothing here is asserted as the tracker's own view.

What it does:

• Proposed three statutory principles: that Parliament and the executive have the "full power to govern"; that the Crown recognises hapū and iwi rights existing at 1840 but only where "agreed in the settlement of a historical treaty claim"; and that everyone is equal before the law.
• ACT leader David Seymour argued the bill would mean the Treaty could "no longer be used to justify separate public services" and "creeping co-governance"; ACT's policy frames equal rights as "one person, one vote, and the same rules for everyone".
• It was introduced on 7 November 2024 and passed its first reading 68–54 on 14 November 2024; ACT dropped its demand for a binding referendum during coalition talks, with National and NZ First agreeing only to support it to select committee.
• The Justice Committee received a record 300,000-plus submissions — about 90% of written submissions opposed — and on 4 April 2025 recommended the bill not proceed.
• It was defeated at its second reading on 10 April 2025 by 112 votes to 11, with only ACT in favour.

The result: The bill is dead, and was never funded or legally workable as a standalone reform. The Waitangi Tribunal, in an urgent inquiry, found it would reduce the constitutional status of te Tiriti, limit Māori rights and Crown obligations and undermine social cohesion, and recommended the policy "be abandoned". Victoria University law professor Dean Knight called the Crown Law advice supplied to Parliament "quite damning", saying the bill would "probably be constitutionally ineffective". Opposition was cross-party: Labour, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori all voted against, and even coalition partners National (Prime Minister Christopher Luxon) and NZ First confirmed they would not back it past select committee. Supporters were largely confined to ACT and the lobby group Hobson's Pledge. Seymour maintains the underlying argument — that public services should not differentiate by ancestry — remains live for ACT.

The impacts to watch:

• The bill galvanised the Hīkoi mō te Tiriti, with police estimating about 42,000 people marched on Parliament in November 2024 — one of the largest protests in the country's history.
• ACT signalled it will keep campaigning on "equal rights" themes, so the debate over how the Treaty is referenced in law is likely to resurface at the 2026 election.
• A separate, related strand — the coalition's review of "Treaty principles" clauses across existing statutes — continues, and has itself drawn Waitangi Tribunal scrutiny.