"Kill the bill" was the cry from the hīkoi as it stood before Parliament - and that's likely to happen with National and NZ First saying they will not support the Treaty Principles Bill at its second reading, but it may not be killed as quickly as protestors would like.

Members of the King’s Counsel, some of New Zealand’s most senior legal minds, say the controversial Treaty Principles Bill “seeks to rewrite the Treaty itself” and are calling on the prime minister and the coalition government to “act responsibly now and abandon” it.

Parliament’s justice committee this morning called for public submissions on the Treaty Principles bill warning that submissions containing offensive language would not be accepted. In the call for submissions,

"The government's own lawyers recognise the bill would at first blush undermine Māori people's rights," a law professor says.