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18,000 Register Support For Tribunal Claim Against Regulatory Standards Bill
The number of claimants registering support for an urgent Waitangi Tribunal claim into the Regulatory Standards Bill has surged to more than 18,000.
Toitū Te Tiriti, the group behind last year's Hīkoi, led the claim and launched a social media campaign just before Waitangi Day this year calling on people to show their support and register as claimants.
Claimant lawyer Tania Waikato presented submissions to the Tribunal on Wednesday morning and began by highlighting the growing number of claimants.
"There is 13,580 claimants of Māori descent in the claimant group, 3,599 persons of non-Māori descent, and the total registered in support of the claim is 17, 279 which has just ticked over to 18,236 as of this morning," Waikato said.
Waikato told the Tribunal the bill would alter the constitutional arrangement between the Crown and Māori under Te Tiriti o Waitangi "by stealth and without the consent of Māori as treaty partner".
She said the consultation process on the Regulatory Standards bill was fundamentally flawed and labelled it as "defective, deceptive and inconsistent with Te Tiriti o Waitangi and Te Tiriti principles".
"The impact and significance of these breaches is as devastating as the treaty principles bill, if it had been passed, with the key difference being that the crown has already committed the Regulatory Standards Bill will become law."
Act leader David Seymour announced the bill would be brought before Cabinet next week and presented to the House.
Seymour disputes the concern raised and says the bill will improve the quality of regulation by codifying principles of good regulatory practice.
Crown lawyers are due to present their evidence this evening.
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