Greens announce policy to repeal 2008 deadline to lodge Treaty claims

The Green Party has unveiled its plan to return land wrongly taken from Māori.

If part of the next government, the Greens would amend the Public Works Act to prevent Māori land being taken in future.

It would repeal the 2008 deadline to lodge new Treaty claims and reinstate the ability for the Waitangi Tribunal to make recommendations on privately-owned land, as it comes on the property market.

The Greens also want to establish a Royal Commission to investigate land taken through breaches of the Treaty.

Party co-leader Marama Davidson said returning Māori land was the right thing to do.

"Colonial land theft has caused severe disconnection and locked whānau in poverty, and this has fed ongoing inequities for Māori within the health, education and justice systems.

"As Aotearoa approaches the 185-year anniversary of the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and the 50-year anniversary of the Treaty of Waitangi Act, the time is now to reflect on next steps to ensure the promise of Te Tiriti is honoured and wrongs are put right.

"The Green Party will show the political leadership needed to recognise tino rangatiratanga and repair the harms of the past," Davidson said.