Prime Minister John Key's decision to stay away was meant to be for the protection of his other ministers - little did he know he was putting Steven Joyce in the firing line of a flying pink dildo.
As the most senior Government minister left in Waitangi, it was left to Mr Joyce to front the media after ministers met with the iwi leaders forum.
After mounting his defence of Mr Key for his decision to stay away, Mr Joyce was in the midst of saying what ministers had learned from their meetings with the iwi leaders "we always take something away from every meeting we have," when the dildo hit him dead on the snoz.
"That's for raping our sovereignty" the woman called. After a moment's surprise, Joyce said "oh yes yes" before laughing and adding "good o."
"Let's go."
It didn't take long for footage and headlines to spring up declaring a minister had been smacked in the face by a flying pink dildo to appear.
Joyce found it quite entertaining afterwards, although may have been rather optimistic in hoping he would not go down in history as 'Dildo Baggins'.
The bonus for him was that it completely overshadowed Labour leader Andrew Little's efforts at Waitangi. If Little had hoped for a day in the limelight with the PM awol, he soon learned he had been eclipsed by a rubber penis. That might have explained his lengthy attempt to analyse the meaning of a sex toy and its links with sovereignty.
As the woman was led away by Police, she shouted "that's for raping our country and the TPPA and our rights and freedoms," the woman shouted as she was marched away by Police. "I did it for our country."
She did indeed, if our country's entertainment was what she was referring to.