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Leaders speak about Waitangi and everything else

Jane Patterson

Jane Patterson

RNZ, Waitangi
February 6, 2021

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern being welcomed with a Powhiri at Te Whare Runanga on February 4, 2021. (RNZ Photo by Jogai Bhatt)

 

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said that she is “totally open” about going to Te Tii Marae on Waitangi Day next year.

Speaking on the Treaty Grounds after the dawn service today, she said that she would be guided by the Waitangi Trust “on behalf of all parliamentarians.”

Prime Minister stay away

“One of the things I think we have all enjoyed is the fact that when we come onto the Upper Marae we do it as MPs together, so not that Party political approach and I think that is a good thing,” she said.

Since becoming Prime Minister, she has not been welcomed onto Te Tii Marae.

In 2016, then Prime Minister, National’s John Key refused to go on at the last minute, after questions about whether he would be welcome and able to speak.

He told RNZ at the time that he would attend only under “conditions of equity and fairness,” and he did not return for the remainder of his tenure.

Ms Ardern has attended Waitangi each year but all of the formal events have been at the Marae on the Treaty Grounds.

Labour’s Maori MPs were welcomed onto Te Tii Marae for the first time in four years to fulfil the wish of the late and staunch Labour supporter Rudy Taylor; however, a question of whether they will be able to return remains.

If she did go to Te Tii, any decision about whether she would take her daughter Neve would be “like every other parent, whether or not Neve comes with me is often down to what the sleep routine is at that time,” she said.

Raw Optimism

The Dawn Service at Te Whare Runanga at Waitangi was noticeably smaller than usual due to Covid, with about 2000-3000 people present.

Ms Ardern said that enthusiasm over the event was undiminished, with some New Zealanders visiting for the first time.

“Here on the Grounds, a fantastic environment and increasingly the lead-up to Waitangi Day is being used as a chance for good, robust debate…and that how it should be,” she said.

There was a sense of “raw optimism” at Waitangi, she said, about what the Crown and iwi could achieve together.

 

Jacinda Ardern: “All the issues are covered in my speech” (RNZ Photo by Jogai Bhatt)

Foundational Change

Speaking to RNZ, she said that her change in language from “transformational” to “foundational” was not an attempt to dampen expectations about improving life for Maori.

“For me it was not a switch, all of the issues that we have always talked about were still present in my speech; housing, unemployment, issues with our justice system- all still there. For me it was just acknowledging that some of the works we are doing about policies in a moment in time, they are about things that can create long-term change and lay the foundations for the next generation to really have a start in understanding our relationship and understanding the treaty which perhaps some of us didn’t have,” she said.

She said that she had never lost her ambition, despite how big the challenges were.

“The clouds, the things that hang over, those things are still there. I do not for a moment shy away from the need to continue to progress…equally for us it is not sufficient, we must keep going,” Ms Ardern said.

Partnership in Housing

On housing, she said that she had spoken with Iwi leaders about the potential to partner with the Crown, which has the access to the infrastructure that would be needed.

“How do we find in those high needs areas that arrangement where we can make the use of Maori land where it is available and where it is on offer to partner with the Crown to provide housing in high need areas for whanau,” she said.

When asked if it was time for New Zealand to have its first Maori Prime Minister, Ms Ardern said there should be such representation at every level, “including this role”.

Judith Collins on Constitution

Collins was among the dignitaries at the Dawn Service.

Speaking to RNZ afterwards, she said that she did not see the need for a written Constitution, as the current arrangements were enduring.

The Treaty was part of what she described as a set of constitutional documents and “understandings,” which serve New Zealand well.

 

Judith Collins does not want to rush through Maori Wards in local Councils; with Dr Shane Reti and Nicola Willis (RNZ Photo by Siobhan Wilson)

“I sometimes look at countries with extremely beautifully written Constitutions protecting everyone from everything run by dictators, who actually imprison anybody who says anything other than what they want,” she said.

One of the announcements from Ms Ardern in the lead-up to Waitangi Day was to smooth the way for Maori wards in Local Councils.

Ms Collins said that the National caucus had not discussed the issue to form a position.

But if legislation was passed under urgency, National would oppose it, she said.

“We are concerned about any changes to local democracy without those going to the people themselves to look at… the government did not campaign on this at the last election. If it is in urgency, we will definitely not support it, it is the wrong thing to do… it’s a quasi- constitutional issue,” she said.

Winston Peters ruled out as GG

Ms Ardern poured cold water on the suggestion that New Zealand First Leader and former Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters could be the next Governor General.

Peters, who usually has a prominent presence at Waitangi celebrations, has kept a very low public profile since his election loss last year.

When Ms Ardern was asked if she would endorse him as Governor General, she said that it was her view that the position should not be held by past politicians.

“It has only happened once in our history and at the time it was quite controversial, I would rather remove that controversy and there is any number of fabulous candidates. That is not about one person, that is just a general position,” a view she said she had long held.

“From me, it is a no to any past, central government politician,” she said.


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