The controversial Treaty Principles Bill which sought to redefine New Zealand's founding document has been voted down in a highly anticipated day in the country's parliament.
The bill needed a simple majority to pass its second reading, but failed with 112 votes against and just the 11 members of the ACT Party voting for it.
Of the six parties in the chamber, five voted against the bill, including the prime minister's party.
As the bill died, the chamber erupted into celebration, from both the floor and gallery, before those present broke into a waiata, or song.
Throughout the session, Speaker Gerry Brownlee tried to maintain control, scolding members of the public and ejecting one man from the gallery.
In his speech to the chamber, architect of the bill and ACT Party leader David Seymour said he would "fight on".
He challenged those who opposed the bill to explain how society was "supposed to work without clear rules that apply equally to all".
The Treaty is an agreement signed by more than 500 Maori chiefs and representatives of the Crown in 1840 as New Zealand was founded.
Over the past five decades, it has been central to enshrining Maori rights in law and a series of principles have been developed over time to help that process.
Mr Seymour's position that the current interpretation of the treaty affords Maori more rights than non-Maori New Zealanders has been addressed throughout two years of debate on this issue, and was answered again today.
"What is most offensive is the way that the ACT Party and the political right have twisted the narrative to fit a racist agenda. It is and always has been about legal rights Maori have in their contract with the Crown," Willie Jackson, leader of the Labour Maori caucus said.
Former prime minister and Labour leader Chris Hipkins told the chamber, the Coalition had helped "spread the myth of Maori privilege" and called Mr Seymour's bill "a stain on this country".
Maori Party member Hana Rawhiti Maipe Clarke, who led a haka during the first reading of the bill in November, said this process has proven New Zealand was not divided on this issue.
"This bill has been absolutely annihilated," she said.
"We had two choices: to live to or to die, we chose to live."
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson, whose party did not support the bill, made the same observation.
"The Treaty Principles Bill is dead. Our movement for Te Tiriti o Waitangi (Treaty of Waitangi) justice lives on,” she said.
"Instead of dividing and conquering, this bill has backfired and united communities across the motu (country) in solidarity for our founding agreement and what it represents."
PM not present for vote
It was widely expected that the bill would fail as it did not have support within the governing coalition and faced fierce backlash from opposition parties and in the community.
The bill has sparked a series of nationwide protests, including one in November when 40,000 people marched on parliament.
When the Treaty Principles Bill was opened for submissions earlier in the year, the select committee received about 300,000 responses, with the overwhelming majority opposing the proposal.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon was not present for the second reading of the bill — one he agreed to support up until this point as part of a coalition agreement.
New Zealand is governed by a three-party coalition of National, New Zealand First and David Seymour's ACT Party.
Seymour campaigned on taking a redefining of the Treaty of Waitangi to a referendum, but the house has denied him that option this time around.
After his bill was defeated today, Mr Seymour was asked about next steps.
"The basic commitment that ACT has to equal rights to all Kiwis before the law because that is a universal truth," he told New Zealand radio station NewstalkZB.
"As the election approaches, we will lay out how we're going to do that tactically.
"As we do all of this, I think we'll be asking how we can we get more people on board."
Asked if he would make a referendum a "bottom line" in future coalition negotiations, Mr Seymour said: "that is absolutely a possibility, we wouldn't rule that out."
At the 2023 election, the ACT Party garnered 8.6 per cent of the party vote.
[YouTube Foreign Correspondent]
