Plain language law

New Zealand law explained for everyone

This page is about a bill. That means that it's not the law yet, but some people want it to be the law. It could change quickly, and some of the information is just a draft.

Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill

Preliminary provisions

3: Purpose

You could also call this:

“This bill explains the Treaty of Waitangi rules and how to use them”

This bill aims to do two important things. First, it wants to write down the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi in a law. The Treaty of Waitangi is a very important agreement in New Zealand’s history. Second, the bill says that when people are trying to understand other laws, they should use these Treaty principles to help them, if it’s relevant to do so. Remember, this is just a proposed change to the law, not something that’s in effect yet.

This text is automatically generated. It might be out of date or be missing some parts. Find out more about how we do this.

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS1003438.

Topics:
Māori affairs > Treaty of Waitangi
Government and voting > Government departments
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“When this law starts working depends on what New Zealand voters decide”

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“What important words mean in this proposed law”

Part 1 Preliminary provisions

3Purpose

  1. The purpose of this Act is—

  2. to set out the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi in legislation; and
    1. to require, where relevant, that those principles must be used when interpreting legislation.