Erasing Te Tiriti: Luxon's Education Agenda
The End of Bicultural Foundations in Schools
By Dr Harpreet Singh | drhsinghnz.substack.com | FB: @DrHSinghNZ
“Silence is not neutrality; it is consent to dismantle the promises that bind us.” - Dr Harpreet Singh
What is happening in New Zealand’s education system is not accidental. It is a coordinated political project to strip Te Tiriti o Waitangi from the heart of our schools, universities and early childhood centres. The rhetoric is about “common sense” and “efficiency”. The reality is a systematic rollback of obligations that once guaranteed partnership and protection for Māori learners.
National: the architect of dilution
Under Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, National has led the legislative charge. The Education and Training Amendment Bill in 2025 demoted the duty of school boards to give effect to Te Tiriti from a primary objective to a mere supporting one. Education Minister Erica Stanford fronted this change while insisting it was pragmatic. It is nothing of the sort. When Treaty obligations are no longer central, they become optional.
ACT: the ideological spearhead
ACT, led by David Seymour, wanted the Treaty clause gone altogether. Seymour has been blunt: ACT does not believe Te Tiriti should shape education governance. As Minister for Regulation, he has also driven early childhood deregulation that guts Te Whāriki’s bicultural foundation. Looser curriculum standards and weaker qualification requirements will hit Māori learners hardest.
New Zealand First: the silent scalpel
While ACT shouts, New Zealand First cuts quietly. Shane Jones and his party have championed the Cabinet-approved review of all Treaty references in legislation. Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith holds the pen, but the political will comes from NZ First. This review is the most dangerous move of all. It creates a pathway to erase Treaty clauses from education law entirely, under the guise of “clarity”.
The pattern is unmistakable
First, downgrade Treaty obligations in governance objectives. Second, scrap policy tools like NELP that embedded Treaty principles in planning. Third, dilute curriculum frameworks such as Te Mātaiaho and deregulate ECE. Finally, run a whole-of-government review to normalise a narrow, transactional reading of Te Tiriti. Each step is framed as technical. Together, they amount to an assault on the constitutional promise of partnership.
Why this matters
When obligations vanish, Māori language, tikanga and histories vanish with them. Schools will no longer be required to teach the significance of Te Tiriti. Universities will have fewer incentives to invest in Māori success. Early childhood centres will lose the standards that make bicultural practice real. This is not just policy drift. It is a deliberate dismantling of the foundations of equity in education.
The question is not whether these changes are happening. They are. The question is whether New Zealanders will let a coalition of National, ACT and New Zealand First rewrite the social contract in silence.
I have been fighting hard against the annilation of our bi cultural ambitions through removal of Te Tiriti obligations because it is an injustice, it removes a very important safeguard for the things that really matter to us - communities and environment. I instinctively know Maori culture enriches all our lives and therefore we owe it to fight for their right to be strong self determined through whatever means they themselves determine is necessary. It gets difficult - I'm not māori, I can't speak for what they want so your stories have been a great help to find the framework to speak up for society. Thank you.
Luxon and his government partners can erase The English version, But only Tangatawhenua the descendants of those tupuna that signed Te Triti not The Treaty through contra proferentem can null in void and walk away. It is the English version this corporate entity has been applying their legislation from. That is not in our jurisdiction that is theirs.