National, ACT, NZ First Have No Mandate

Why the Coalition Cannot Justify Removing Treaty Principles.

By Dr Harpreet Singh | drhsinghnz.substack.com | FB: @DrHSinghNZ

A law without the people’s consent is not governance, it is imposition. - Dr Harpreet Singh

Author’s Note: It is clear beyond doubt that the ACT Party, enabled by National and NZ First, holds no democratic mandate to strip Treaty principles from public life. The numbers expose the scale of this overreach: overwhelming public opposition against token pockets of support. This is not reform; it is the dismantling of the democratic process. Christopher Luxon and Winston Peters have presided over a government willing to trade Māori rights for political convenience, reducing constitutional integrity to backroom bargaining. This is governance without consent, a betrayal of the principles that underpin our democracy. The voters must remember: what this government has done and continues to do is not the will of the people. It is a deliberate disregard for it.

Te Tiriti o Waitangi is not a footnote in New Zealand’s history. It is a foundational covenant. Yet the coalition government, driven by ACT’s agenda, has pursued policies to strip Treaty principles from governance. The question is simple: do they have a democratic mandate for this? The evidence says no.

ACT secured 246,473 votes in the 2023 General Election, just 8.64% of the party vote. That is the entire electoral base behind the push to dismantle Treaty protections. Now compare that to the public response when these policies were put before the people.

The Treaty Principles Bill drew an unprecedented 307,000 submissions, the largest in NZ history. Ninety percent opposed it. Only eight percent supported it, around 24,560 submissions. That is less than one-tenth of ACT’s own vote count and a fraction of the national electorate. Opposition was not just strong; it even surpassed ACT’s entire voter base, underscoring the depth of public resistance.

The Regulatory Standards Bill tells an even starker story. Of roughly 156,000 submissions, 98.7 percent opposed the bill. Support barely registered at 1.3 percent, just over two thousand submissions. Despite this near-unanimous rejection, the bill passed into law. If democracy means listening to the people, this was its opposite.

And then there is Te Rārangi Rangatira. While politicians strip Treaty obligations from education law, schools across the country are standing firm. Around 1,500 schools, nearly 60 percent of all schools in New Zealand, have publicly reaffirmed their commitment to Te Tiriti. This is not tokenism; it is a declaration of values from the institutions shaping our future.

The numbers speak with clarity. Public opposition to anti-Treaty legislation dwarfs ACT’s electoral support. Institutional resistance is widespread. There is no mandate, only a political project pursued against the will of the people. In a democracy, legitimacy comes from consent. On this issue, consent is absent. The government’s attempt to erase Treaty principles is not just controversial; it is fundamentally undemocratic.

There is no mandate to erase Treaty principles. 90% of submissions opposed the Treaty Principles Bill. 98.7% opposed the Regulatory Standards Bill. Across Aotearoa, 1,500 schools stand firm with Te Rārangi Rangatira. This is not the will of the people. It is governance without consent.