1998: Constitutional Convention Bill

February 4, 2025

By AHNZ

That’s fairly interesting. After ‘handing’ over leadership of the Labour Party to Helen Clark the ex-Prime Minister Mike Moore had a bit of time still in Parliament.

One of the things Mike tried to do was make a new law called ‘Constitutional Convention Bill.’ The timing was in the lead-up to Waitangi Day, 1998.

Not exactly a Labour plan to revise Treaty of Waitangi since Mike was on the outs. Both Prime Minister Jenny Shipley and Opposition Leader Helen Clark would have been irked. But constitutional conversations most certainly were on the way.

Like flag debates, they make for an excellent distraction from what politicians are really up to. National 6.0 spent their first year (2024) blaming Labour 6.0, their second year (2024) reshuffling then fobbing off questions on the grounds ‘I only just got my feet under the desk!’. Their next trick will be one of these constitutional side-shows. It seems that ACT get to go first at that (The Treaty Principles Bill) while NZ First get the Deputy Prime Ministership. Then, they swap over and ACT get the Dep. PM and NZ First will get their Waitangi Show (Treaty Principles Annihilation Bill?) Meanwhile, National get to keep their hands clean.

Mike Moore had too much political capital to be a backbencher. Eventually he was gotten rid of at the next election in the time-honored tradition. He was given a big pay raise and promoted offshore.

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Image ref. Bob Brockie cartoon, Alexander Turnbull Library, AHNZ mod (20250)

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