New Zealand's Controversial Treaty Principles Bill Rejected In Parliament

The Treaty Principles Bill was voted down 112 votes to 11, days after a government committee recommended that it should not proceed.

The proposed legislation aimed to legally define the principles of the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi 바카라� a move that sparked widespread outrage and prompted a protest of over 40,000 people outside Parliament last year.

The bill was widely expected to fail, with most major political parties vowing to oppose it.

At its second reading on April 10, only members of the right-wing ACT Party, which introduced the bill, voted in its favor. ACT leader David Seymour has vowed to keep pushing the issue.

바카라�I believe this bill, or something similar, will eventually pass 바카라� because there are no strong arguments against it,바카라� Seymour wrote on social media.

In November last year, tensions were high in parliament during a debate ahead of the vote. Labour MP Willie Jackson was told to leave after refusing to withdraw a comment he made calling Seymour a "liar".

Labour leader Chris Hipkins had earlier said that the proposed legislation would forever "be a stain on our country", while Te Pāti Māori [The Māori Party] MP Hana Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke - who gained international attention for starting a haka in parliament at the bill's first reading - said it had been "annihilated".

"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," Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson later said in a statement.

The second reading came after a select committee, which had been looking into the proposed legislation released its final report - revealing that more than 300,000 submissions had been made on it, the vast majority of which were opposed.

It is the largest response to proposed legislation that the New Zealand parliament has ever received.

While the principles of the Treaty have never been defined in law, its core values have, over time, been woven into different pieces of legislation in an effort to offer redress to Māori for the wrong done to them during colonisation.

The act's proposed legislation had three main principles: that the New Zealand government has the power to govern, and parliament to make laws; that the Crown would respect the rights of Māori at the time the Treaty was signed; and that everyone is equal before the law and entitled to equal protection.

The party said the bill would not alter the Treaty itself but would "continue the process of defining the Treaty principles". This, they believe, would help to create equality for all New Zealanders and improve social cohesion.