Christopher Luxon and Chris Hipkins are usually away from Parliament on Thursdays, on visits outside Wellington. Photo: RNZ
Labour leader Chris Hipkins has changed his diary in order to speak at the second reading of the Treaty Principles Bill, and says the Prime Minister should do the same.
The bill will be debated on Thursday, with National and New Zealand First set to vote against it.
Christopher Luxon and Chris Hipkins are usually away from Parliament on Thursdays, doing visits elsewhere in New Zealand.
Hipkins said he moved his diary on Monday night so he would be able to speak at Thursday's debate.
At his post-Cabinet media conference on Monday, Luxon said his absence was "a function of schedule," and denied the bill was deliberately set down for a day where he would not be at Parliament.
"We've got a programme, and that's the day that it's going to, and frankly it's more important that it comes to the House and it's voted down, from my point of view, than me having to be there or not," he said.
Hipkins said Luxon's absence was a "cowardly manoeuvre," and accused him of running away.
"The Prime Minister signed New Zealand up to this debate. I think him running away from it shows a total lack of leadership. I think he should front up, he should explain why he agreed to this debate in the first place, and he should articulate why it is that the National Party are now voting against it," he said.
Te Pāti Māori's Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke interrupted the vote on the Treaty Principles Bill's first reading with a haka taken up by members of the opposition and people in the public gallery. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Supporting the bill to the Select Committee stage was part of National and ACT's coalition agreement. Luxon has called the bill "divisive" and promised National would vote it down at second reading.
ACT wanted the bill to go to a public referendum, but the two parties reached a compromise.
Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka said he was unsure if he would be speaking on the bill, saying it was up to the party whips to decide.
But he said he was looking forward to seeing the bill voted down.
"I'm looking forward to the cremation, and of course the nehu day, the burial day, for the Treaty Principles Bill."
Labour's Māori Development spokesperson Willie Jackson said it was good to hear Potaka's opposition, but he wished he had voiced it earlier.
He said Potaka should also speak at the second reading, as he did not speak at the first.
"This has been one of the most divisive bills in our history," Jackson said.
In November, National put up Paul Goldsmith, Louise Upston, Scott Simpson, and James Meager to speak at the first reading.
Last week, the Justice Committee reported back on the bill, and recommended it not pass. Of the 300,000 written submissions on the bill, 90 percent were opposed.
Potaka acknowledged there was a constituency that believed in the bill, but the submissions process had shown that constituency was "narrow."
On Friday, ACT leader and Associate Justice Minister David Seymour said he believed the weight of submissions was not proportional to public opinion, pointing to the End of Life Choice Bill, which was opposed by submitters but passed when it went to a referendum.
"If people believe that the public don't support this, they should not be opposed to having a referendum on it. If people really believe that most New Zealanders don't want Parliament to be sovereign, don't want our rights all to be equal, let's have a referendum and see how people vote," he said.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
