Act wants to abolish Waitangi Tribunal once final historical claim settled

Author: Thomas Coughlan,
Publish Date: Thu, 10 Sep 2026, 11:14am

The Act Party is promising to wind up the Waitangi Tribunal once the final historical claims are heard, if elected.

The party is promising to amend the tribunal’s governing legislation so it is automatically disestablished once historical claims have been completed. Act said it would also reduce the tribunal’s funding as its role diminishes.

Announcing its Treaty Policy this morning, leader David Seymour said the party “supports completing full and final historical Treaty settlements as a pragmatic way to resolve past injustices. This includes where the Crown confiscated land or otherwise breached property rights. That work should be finished properly”.

“But the tribunal that exists today is very different from the institution established in 1975,” he said.

“As 2040 approaches, we should complete the remaining historical settlements, protecting every New Zealander’s right under the same law and courts, and move forward under one law for all with one future together,” Seymour said.

The tribunal was established in 1975 as a permanent commission of inquiry into Treaty breaches by the Crown.

Initially, it could only hear breaches relating to contemporary issues, or breaches from 1975 onwards. In 1985, its jurisdiction was extended back to the 1840 signing of the Treaty, which initiated the hearing of historical claims.

This has led to the tribunal investigating a vast number of breaches and playing a key role in the process of the Crown and Māori settling grievances. The statutory deadline for lodging historical claims was set as September 2008. The tribunal has set itself a goal of hearing historical claims by 2030.

Act said it wants every eligible historical claim before the tribunal to be heard and resolved. The party will limit the tribunal to historical claims lodged by September 1, 2008.

The party also wants to end the tribunal’s contemporary jurisdiction, ending its role in reviewing Government policy and actions. Act said these inquiries interfere with the mandate the Government gets from voters and that scrapping this role will allow the tribunal to focus on historical claims.

The party’s policy document said contemporary kaupapa inquiries “increasingly resemble alternative policy processes”.

“They range across questions such as citizenship, public-sector pay, electoral law, government communications, health, child welfare, resource management, and the design of legislation itself.

“Kaupapa inquiries in particular attempt to review whole areas of public policy and recommend how governments should govern them. That is the job of ministers and Parliament,” the party’s policy document said.