Maori protesters heckle New Zealand leaders at treaty celebration

Benedict Smith
Mon, 5 February 2024 

Maori warriors welcomed the government leaders in Waitangi with traditional rituals - Fiona Goodall/Getty Images AsiaPac

New Zealand’s prime minister has been heckled at a Māori gathering amid fears he is planning to tear up a British colonial agreement to protect indigenous people’s language and status.

Christopher Luxon was booed by Ngapuhi tribe members on Monday following weeks of nationwide protests against his Right-leaning government.

He has pledged to dissolve the country’s Māori Health Authority, minimise the use of its language in public services, and end limits on tobacco sales – which will disproportionately affect the Māori population given their high smoking rates.


His government – elected in October after Jacinda Ardern stood down – also intends to “reinterpret” the Treaty of Waitangi, a pact that Māori chiefs agreed with the British Crown almost two centuries ago to guarantee their rights and autonomy.

While Mr Luxon and senior government figures travelled to Waitangi, northern New Zealand, to mark the treaty at a commemorative event, clashes soon followed with the Māori in attendance.

Maori perform a welcome haka for New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and officials at the Waitangi Treaty House - Michael Cunningham/NZ Hearld

Winston Peters, the deputy prime minister, told one heckler to “get an education” and suggested Māori leaders were talking “cr--” about plans to redefine the treaty’s legal principles.

“Whoever said we’re getting rid of the Treaty of Waitangi? Who?” he asked. “Stop the cr--. Stop the nonsense. Stop the hysteria.”

He continued: “Some of us were out here before you were born, fighting for Māori land rights ... so we aren’t here to apologise.”

Many in the crowd held signs spattered with fake blood calling on ministers to honour the treaty, which resulted in the creation of New Zealand when it was signed by more than 500 Māori chiefs in 1840.

Deputy prime minister Winston Peters told one heckler to 'get an education' - Fiona Goodall/Getty Images AsiaPac

The pact has long been a source of contention because key distinctions exist in its English and Māori forms.

However, tensions reached new heights following government plans to redefine how the treaty affects law, which has prompted disquiet from the Māori king.

David Seymour, the regulation minister, was incensed as the audience sang over his speech and labelled him a “joke” and “sandfly” – a species of blood-sucking insect.

“You can sing, you can sing, you’re not going to beat an idea by singing,” he said, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.

“I’m sorry to say, not even Donald Trump is calling his opponents sandflies. You should attack ideas, not people.”

Mr Luxon told reporters after the event that the crowd had not shown “full respect”, adding: “It was pretty much as I expected.”