Submitting on the Treaty Principle's Bill - leveraging the power of 'quantity'

It is time for everyone decent to submit on the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill  (by 11.59pm Tuesday, 07 January 2025). I’m assuming this is you and I’m hoping this post will help. It’s about the ‘quantity’ part of submission analysis, the power of numbers and how you can leverage this. 

A couple of things to note - first, the post is not about generally writing a good submission (there are lots of helpful resources on this. Just Google). And second, it’s a very pākehā policy analyst-type view (i.e. me). 

It's divided into three parts – 

• What is the ‘quantity’ part of submission analysis?
• The Citizenship (Western Samoa) (Restoration) Amendment Bill - an example
• Topics and categories for use in a Treaty Principle’s Bill submission

What is the 'quantity' part of submission analysis?

What's a submission? 

Submissions allow the public to input on specific Bills as they make their way through the legislative process. After a Bill passes its first reading (as has the Treaty Principle’s Bill) it’s referred to a Select Committee (here it's the Justice Committee) which has six months to gather further information. The Select Committee uses this to report back to the House and recommend changes before the Bill is read a second time. These may or may not happen and the Bill may or may not get through. It’s all up to how the politicians vote (will the coalition partners keep their promises not to support the Treaty Principles Bill at second reading? Huh? Huh?!) 

Analysis of submissions is part of  the ‘gathers information’ bit of the process. Done by public servants (usually policy analysts) it provides the substance of the Select Committee report and basis for recommended changes. 

Content and quantity 

Submission analysis considers both content and quantity. They work together and both are important! (Please note in real life this mahi is tricky, time-consuming and skilful in a way that's not reflected in the simple explanation that follows). 

Content analysis is about what submissions say and how and why they say it. It concentrates on those that are long, complex and unique, and involves close reading, interpreting ideas, synthesizing and drawing conclusions.

Quantity analysis – the focus of the post from now on - is less about what’s being said and more about how often it’s happening. It’s essentially recording the number of times the same issue and/or opinion appears across all submissions. To be counted these don't have to be uniquely articulated, eloquent, detailed or explained. They just have to be there. (Template submissions and form letters work as well as any. They're important!)

The resulting numbers show levels of public concern on specific issues and thus they have power. The more often an issue crops up the more significant it’s deemed. And the more ‘significant’ an issue is, the more likely it is to be highlighted, considered and discussed  in the Select Committee report. This is a very helpful and important thing. 

^{Numbers needed in the hikoi and numbers needed in the submissions}

Categories and sub-categories 

So quantity analysis is about counting. But because it’s not possible or useful to count everything raised in every submission (there can be some pretty random stuff) categories and subcategories are created. These reference what’s in the proposed Bill and any topics, issues and opinions likely to come up (and can change as analysis progresses).

The identified categories are loaded into some fancy software. Using this, analysts work their way through each submission, highlighting anything relevant and assigning it to a category/sub-category by way of pop-up menu. Running totals for all categories are provided.

The Citizenship (Western Samoa) (Restoration) Amendment Bill - an example

In real life I analysed submissions on the Citizenship (Western Samoa) (Restoration) Amendment Bill so I'm going to use it to illustrate all of the above. (Fyi it passed through the House and became law on 25 November of this year). 

This Bill was about restoring NZ citizenship to Samoans who lost it under the Muldoon government’s unjust and racist Citizenship (Western Samoa) Act 1982 (You can read more about the issue and its history here). Its submission analysis used the following categories. (Kind of. This is a very small, simplified selection for example purposes only and the numbers are not real): 

• Access to services such as health, education and employment as a reason Samoans come or want to come to NZ
• The Government’s negative response to Samoans living in NZ when unemployment was no longer high and they no longer wanted them in the country; The Citizenship (Western Samoan) Act 1982, special police powers, the demanding of immigration papers without cause, deportation, the Dawn raids, and general violence and intimidation
• Who the Bill should apply to; Samoans born between 1924 and 1948 and directly impacted by the Act, those born between 1924 and 1961 when Western Samoa gained independence, the descendants of those eligible, those currently residing in Samoa

I’ve used an extract from the Public Service Association Pasefika’s actual submission on the Citizenship (Western Samoa) (Restoration) Amendment Bill to show how it works. Hopefully it makes sense -

Here's a close-up look at a menu and its components -

Topics and categories for use in a Treaty Principle’s Bill submission 

What follows is a list of topics, categories and subcategories likely to be part of submission analysis on the Treaty Principle’s Bill (there will be others). If a submission includes anything from this (probable) list it’ll be counted. And remember that the higher the number, the more important the issue/opinion is deemed and the greater the chance it’ll be in the Select Committee report. 

Also remember that quantity analysis does not require any eloquence, detail, explanation or justification. The topic/issue/idea/opinion just has to be somewhere in the submission. Bullet points are fine (e.g. “I oppose the Treaty Principle’s Bill because it… bullet… bullet… bullet) as are form/template submissions (and you can always add bullets to these).

So here’s a list of things you might include in a submission. The Treaty Principle’s Bill is complicated and there are many reasons to oppose it so the list is long! Please feel free to copy, paste, adapt, share anything and I hope it’s useful.

Straight-up racism  

• Systemic/institutional racism (e.g. Westminster parliamentary system)
• Personal racism (e.g. David Seymour)
• Accepting limits/passive racism (e.g. Christopher Luxton and the National Party)
• Divisiveness
• Equality versus equity
• The Bill as the latest attack on Māori by the current government
• Idea of a ‘level playing field’
• Current statistics and realities for Māori regarding health, education, justice, employment etc.
• Doctrine of Discovery and colonisation

 Te Tiriti o Waitangi 

• History of signing (who, what, where etc.)
• The three Articles 
• Idea of two versions in te reo and English, and the differences in translation
• The issue of Māori sovereignty
• He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tireni /  Declaration of Independence of New Zealand
• Te Tiriti as a foundational constitutional document
• Historic injustices and breaches of the Treaty by the Crown (actions, inactions, legislation, violence)
• The Waitangi Tribunal
• The Treaty as physical taonga (in He Whakapapa Kōrero: The document room at the National Library of NZ)

 The Treaty Principles 

• What they are (partnership, participation and protection)
• Why they were developed (to bridge literal differences in the Te reo and English versions of Te Tiriti)
• A means to give effect to the spirit and intent of the Treaty when applied to legislation and contemporary issues
• Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975
• The Principles in legislation

 Definition of ‘Treaty’ 

• changes to any part of any treaty cannot be made by just one of its signatories
• The government would not unilaterally try to change any of the 1900ish treaties it has with other countries

 Development & content of the Bill 

• Simplified, problematic interpretation of Te Tiriti
• Lack of expertise in its development (Māori, constitutional lawyers, public servants)
• Shaky constitutional and legal foundations
• Lack of consultation with Māori (itself a breach of Te Tiriti)
• Lack of good faith (e.g. changed date of first reading)
• Use of taxpayer funding and resource on a complex, time-consuming but ultimately futile Bill (e.g. cost, impact on gutted, stretched public service, delay or cancellation of other work)

 Coalition Government 

• How a party with 8% of the vote has such a disproportionate influence over government policy
• Christopher Luxton’s lack of leadership (allowing the Bill to exist, refusing to meet the Hīkoi etc.)
• Christopher Luxton's lack of negotiating skills - that David Seymour said the Bill wasn't a 'bottom line' in coalition talks
• National and NZ First relationships with Māori (historic and current)
• Coalition partners’ promise not to support Bill beyond first reading

Bill as impediment to corporatisation and privatisation 

• ACT policies generally
• Hobson’s Pledge / Atlas Network
• Selling off of public assets
• Fast Track projects, including mining
• Inclusion of Principles in multiple pieces of pesky legislation

 Resistance 

• Iwi, hapū, marae, Rōpū
• Hīkoi mō te Tiriti
• Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke’s haka
• Stop the Treaty Principles Bill petition
• Māori electoral roll and Māori seats
• Kōhanga Reo generation, tamariki, rangatahi
• Unified opposition parties
• Ngā Wai hono i te pō and Kingitanga
• Te Pāti Māori
• Waitangi Tribunal and the Treaty Principles Report
• Tangata tiriti
• King’s Council, church, former National Party members, local government, journalists, international, celebrity opposition
• Connections to Te Matakite o Aotearoa (Māori Land March), Te Petihana Reo Māori (Māori Language Petition), Foreshore and Seabed Hīkoi and other protests
• Connections to other indigenous anti-colonial resistance movements
• Decolonisation
• The Treaty as it provides for others to live in Aotearoa; a statement of human rights; and a source of unification

 Personal stories 

• Whakapapa
• How the Treaty makes a difference in your life