Cracks in the Pre-Nup

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Hundreds of New Zealanders began a nine-day march Monday to protest a controversial bill that would alter the interpretation of the Treaty of Waitangi, New Zealand’s foundational document signed in 1840 between the British Crown and Māori chiefs, Reuters reported.

The protest, known as “Hīkoi mō te Tiriti” (March for the Treaty), will see demonstrators traveling from Cape Reinga in the far north to other towns and cities until they reach the capital Wellington.

Organizers expect tens of thousands to join by the time they arrive in the capital on Nov.19.

The march comes a week after New Zealand’s center-right government introduced the Treaty Principles Bill, which seeks to enshrine a narrower interpretation of the document that guides legislation and policy in the Pacific nation.

Decades of interpretation by courts and a separate Māori tribunal have tended to expand the rights and privileges of the Indigenous group, which makes up around 20 percent of the country’s population of 5.3 million people.

But Associate Justice Minister David Seymour of the right-wing ACT New Zealand, one of the parties in the ruling coalition, explained that the draft law would allow important political and constitutional questions raised by the treaty to be decided by parliament instead of by the judiciary.

He added that the current policies are disadvantageous to many non-Indigenous citizens, while rejecting claims that the new bill was racist.

However, critics and Māori advocates worry that the bill will threaten Māori rights and deepen existing inequalities. Organizers hope that the marches will also spark a broader conversation about New Zealand’s treatment of its Indigenous people.

In addition to protesting the bill, demonstrators are also opposing other recent government decisions affecting the Māori community, including the dismantling of the Māori Health, changes to child welfare laws impacting Māori families, and mining policies that expedite land use approvals, the New Zealand Herald added.