A petition with over 50,000 signatures asking the House of Representatives to reject proposals that sought to remove or amend references to Te Tiriti o Waitangi in legislation, was delivered to Parliament today on horseback.
Hawke's Bay-Wairarapa iwi Ngāti Kahungunu led the horse trek that traversed over 300km from Waimarama, a small coastal community near Hastings, to Wellington.
Iwi chairman Bayden Barber said with an election coming up it was important to take action against a government that intended to weaken and remove of clauses that talk about the Treaty of Waitangi.
"If we want to get this government out we're going to have to do it by numbers and we need our people to vote in numbers and we want them to 'vote, baby, vote'," he said, referencing Waikato iwi leader Tukoroirangi Morgan’s speech at this year’s Koroneihana.
Forty horses and their riders click-clacked through the main streets of Wellington but had to be tethered at Parliament’s front gate with only one granted access on the grounds to deliver the petition.
Most riders were in the 20-to-30-year age bracket, said Barber, the oldest was 70 and the youngest primary school age – Barber's own daughter only 12.
Labour’s Ikaroa-Rāwhiti MP Cushla Tangaere-Manuel accepted the petition with many Māori MPs from across opposition parties present to welcome the contingent.
Tangaere-Manuel said the iwi represented those who were tired of the Treaty being disrespected and disregarded.
"While Ngāti Kahungunu has come here on horseback, they represent the views of thousands across Aotearoa hence the number of signatures the petition received," she said.
The final tally of signatures came to 52,670. Barber said the number showed the support comes not just from Māori, but Pākehā too.
“As we were riding down the streets of all the towns that we came through people were waving out, they were giving koha, they were giving money to the kaupapa, and they were Pākehā.
“So, they support the Treaty, and as what was said on the paepae, the Treaty's not just for Māori, it's for everyone in this nation. It's the foundation document that our tūpuna signed, not just Māori, the Crown signed it as well.”
Ministers Paul Goldsmith and Tama Potaka said they would try to meet protesters today, dependent on their schedule, according to the NZ Herald.
"They could have just picked up the phone; they didn’t have to ride all the way from Hastings," Goldsmith said.
"We certainly hear their point of view and they are very perfectly welcome to protest as much as they like. But there has been lots of consultation around this and there will be more to go."
Potaka told the Herald there had been "a lot of genuine concern, a lot of kōrero and wānanga" about the issue the group was protesting against.
"A part of that democratic process is to have a petition and bring those concerns to Parliament."
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