National MP Shane Reti said today he was disappointed his party's leader was not allowed to speak during the Parliamentary pōwhiri in Waitangi. It was a mention that will see Judith Collins allowed to talk next year alongside Jacinda Ardern.
“We must not forget the mana and power of women who house life,” Reti said in te reo.
Ngāti Hine iwi leader Waihoroi Shortland said it would change next year.
“You don’t become leaders of this nation without opportunities to show your leadership.”
He urged the Government to “get on with the business” with settling Treaty claims, but said to leave Ngāpuhi “to us”.
“Do not try to write a remedy for Ngāpuhi.”
Collins spoke to media following the pōwhiri, saying she felt “extremely welcomed” today and Reti’s comments were received well.
“It’s time for change.”
MPs from all sides were welcomed together to Te Whare Runanga on the upper marae grounds in Waitangi, with Ardern revealing next year’s date of June 24 as the new public holiday to celebrate Matariki.
It will shift around each year but with an expectation it would always fall on a Friday or Monday.
Ardern said it was an “act of justice to make sure our children learn their history, we should never privilege the history of others over our own land and our own people”.
She called what the Government had done “foundational changes” – moving away from the promise of ‘transformational change’, saying there was still work to do.
“Of all the things we have achieved, it is not enough. Waitnagi is a place for honest reflection and I expect no less.”
Ardern spoke about last year at Waitangi, saying there were “clouds above us and there were clouds looming” – in reference to the Ihumātao dispute, the string of issues with Oranga Tamariki and the Treaty of Waitangi claim had still not yet been settled with Ngāpuhi.
“(Treaty Negotiations Minister) Andrew Little is still working on that,” Ardern said, adding issues with housing and inequality still remained.
“In Aotearoa there will always be clouds,” Ardern said. “It is my hope that we we will no longer be defined by those individual challenges, but by the way we as a nation take them on whenever they arise, so that they do not cast a long shadow above us.”
Ardern sat with Ngāpuhi kuia Titewhai Harawira on her right and Collins on her left, with Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson a few seats down.
Reti said National remained strong, despite losing the potential power to govern New Zealand at the election and urged the Government to act “correctly and with good faith”.
ACT’s David Seymour spoke after him, saying the Treaty of Waitangi held “enormous hope for New Zealand”.
“The Treaty tells us actually everybody is alike in dignity with the same rights. There are no bad people just sometimes bad ideas. We can work through our problems so much better if that is how we start.”
New Green Party MP Teanau Tuiono said in te reo that he was usually with the protestors.
He said he was reading this morning it was the 50th year that Māori activist group Ngā Tamatoa had their first protest at the grounds in Waitangi.
Tuiono said their message was “to arise”.
“I thought some of us rose up but others are still asleep.”
Ngāpuhi kaumatua Hone Sadler spoke about the issues that Māori faced such as disproportional representation in prison, but also noted how Māori children were thriving in kura.
He looked to the political leadership, saying the all-female leaders had great responsibility to combat the hardships faced by Māori.
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