PM rebukes pair over Tribunal comments

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has issued a rare reprimand of his Cabinet colleagues David Seymour and Shane Jones for their attacks on the Waitangi Tribunal, saying they were “ill-considered”.

Speaking on the final leg of his overseas tour of Singapore, Thailand, and the Philippines, Luxon said he would be having a word to both ministers on his return.

“Those comments are illconsidered. I expect my ministers to exercise good judgment on communications of that nature,” Luxon said.

Seymour and Jones had made remarks critical of the Waitangi Tribunal. Seymour attacked the Tribunal after it summonsed Karen Chour, one of his MPs, to appear before it.

Chour had previously refused to provide evidence for the Tribunal’s inquiry into the repeal of section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act, which lays out the obligations of the children’s ministry in relation to the Treaty of Waitangi.

“Perhaps they [the Tribunal] should be wound up for their own good,” Seymour said.

Jones, speaking on the same issue, said the Tribunal had “overstepped its brief ”.

Luxon said he had not had a chance to speak to either man yet.

“But that message will be underscored to the ministers. Those remarks are ill-considered. Ministers need to exercise good judgment,” he said.

The remarks from both ministers could be a breach of the Cabinet Manual, which asks that ministers refrain from criticising the judiciary.

Luxon was speaking from the Philippines, the final leg of his Southeast Asian tour.

Strengthening trade ties was a focus of the trip, but so too was defence and the troubling security situation in Asia.

In the Philippines, Luxon was the guest of recently-elected President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Romualdez Marcos, who highlighted challenges in the South China Sea, where the Philippines is engaged in a bitter dispute with an increasingly assertive China.

New Zealand is trying to avoid picking sides in the dispute.

Luxon acknowledged “President Marcos’ leadership on the international stage with both of us focused on building international partnerships”.

New Zealand and the Philippines agreed to work more closely on matters of security.

Those comments are illconsidered. I expect my ministers to exercise good judgment. Christopher Luxon