National to vote on principle changes

The National Party will host a special meeting in late June to put big constitutional changes to its members, Stuff understands.

One of the big changes that will be put to members is whether the party’s constitution needs to be amended to include explicit reference to the Treaty of Waitangi.

The changes have risen out of the review into the party’s 2020 election campaign and how the party conducted itself during its three years in opposition.

The review was carried out by the party board and remains secret, even MPs aren’t allowed to keep a copy of it.

The recommendations have been discussed in broad terms with party members, and in a fortnight the party will discuss proposed changes arising from the report with members at regional conferences.

The board is set to approve a special one-day conference in late June, where members from around the country can gather to vote on changes to the party’s constitution. National’s constitution means that any constitutional changes have to be put back to the membership.

The board hasn’t yet met to confirm the date, but it’s understood this will be finalised some time this week.

This means the changes to the constitution can go to members ahead of the party’s regular conference which will be held in August. The biggest, and possibly most controversial change is what to do with the Treaty of Waitangi, in particular whether and how it should be inserted into National’s constitution.

Other, more minor changes are afoot: board term limits could be extended to a three-year term from a two-year term.

Other amendments echo with another review carried out by former National Party leader Jim McLay. That review recommended board members shouldn’t be allowed to hold other positions in the party. This would be a problem for some recent board members who have held local posts while also serving on the party board.

Not all the recommendations from the review will be put to caucus. Some, like the recommendation that the board should demand good discipline from caucus, are meant to be operational already.

Other recommendations will have to wait until the next campaign. The review found that National was hampered in 2020 by a lack of diverse candidates.

National Party President Peter Goodfellow has previously told members that the board will ‘‘fully accept’’ all of the review’s recommendations.