Government Not a Partnership Between Indigenous and Non-Indigenous, ACT Leader Says

On the eve of the annual commemoration of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, the ACT party has laid out its position on relations between Māori and the Crown, saying it doesn’t believe it amounts to a partnership between races. “ACT stands for the mana [dignity] of the individual, the right to live life as you choose so long as you are not harming others. Put another way, ACT has championed tino rangatiratanga, or self-determination,” wrote party leader David Seymour in an op-ed in NZ Herald. “You might think leaders in Māoridom would welcome a party willing to beat back the overreaching state and promote tino rangatiratanga. Those who recognise that it is Māori who’ve had the worst of most social statistics would be the most enthusiastic supporters of change.”...