Two months after laying down his public challenge, Te Rūnanga o Toa Rangatira CE Helmut Modlik will finally face off with the Hon David Seymour in a debate about Te Tiriti o Waitangi and its role in the 21st century.

The debate challenge was issued in August after Modlik watched the ACT Party leader once again defend his Treaty Principles Bill. At the time, Seymour claimed he wanted a national conversation about Te Tiriti so Modlik immediately reached out to accept the opportunity to kōrero.

“Unsurprisingly, there was little interest in a debate at first from David but he soon came around,” says Modlik. “I was invited to appear on an earlier show, I turned up. David’s office later said they never agreed to it.”

“When I reflect on the Bill I can’t help but ask; if political parties aren’t supporting it other than ACT, why continue wasting taxpayers money, and demand yet another expensive multimillion dollar referendum? What is the true purpose of the public actions taken by ACT? Hopefully we’ll find out on Tuesday, 8 October at 8pm.”

The exclusive Treaty debate will be hosted by Martyn Bradbury and Damien Grant. It will be live streamed on The Working Group political podcast simulcast on YouTube, Facebook, JuiceTV.live, Waatea Radio, Sky TV Channel 3, TikTok and replayed on Channel 200 Freeview, and posted on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Rova, and YouTube.

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