‘SEEING THE VIEW FROM THE BEACH’

OUTGOING: British High Commissioner Laura Clarke in Gisborne earlier this week. Picture by Liam Clayton

When British High Commissioner Laura Clarke first came here it was to deliver a historic “expression of regret” from the British Government. She will soon leave New Zealand, but says ties between the United Kingdom and the region's iwi will endure.

Commissioner Clarke first visited Tūranga in 2019 for the Tuia 250 events, marking 250 years since the first onshore encounters between Māori and Pākehā in 1769. She delivered an official expression of regret for the treatment of Māori at the time of Cook's arrival.

“That was a great learning experience for me,” she said.

“You grow up in your own cultural context around the stories that are told to you and the narratives. I suppose you could explain it as I grew up, like lots of New Zealanders did, thinking about those first encounters from the perspective of the view from the ship.

“It's just so important to be able to take yourself out of that perspective and see the view from the beach.

“That way you can reflect and learn what it has been like for other people and what their experience has been, that was the great learning for me.

“Of course I knew that intellectually, but it was real learning, and also to understand that for the descendants this was not a pain that felt like it was distant or way back in the past. It still felt very immediate because it had been handed on from generation to generation — partly, because it had never really been acknowledged publicly.

“One of my objectives, right from the time I arrived in 2018, was focused on how can we, the UK, strengthen our relationship with Te Ao Māori, so we have the best possible relationship with Aotearoa/New Zealand.

“And then of course, we had the first encounters anniversary and the Tuia commemorations, which meant a very particular focus on Gisborne and the Tūranga iwi and Ngāti Oneone and that request for some form of reconciliation process because of the deaths caused in those first encounters. That led to the whole expression of regret.

“It was very much something we co-created between the UK and iwi and hapū here. It was very much a process we navigated together.

“That was quite a process in getting to know each other and building that trust and understanding. I suppose that formed the foundation for relationships and cooperation going forward because we had built that trust and had looked to the past. I think it's very important if you want to move forward effectively you have to know where you have come from. You have to acknowledge the pain of the past as well.”

Commissioner Clarke said since then the relationship had come to be about much more, pointing to the involvement with Te Taumata, a group championing the views and interests of whānau and Māori exporters into all trade negotiations between New Zealand and the rest of the world.

“For instance, one of the times I came back to Tairāwhiti was to Taumata Hui that Rongowhakaata and others were involved in, and that wall about the trade agenda, the Māori trade agenda, and looking also at shared aspirations around the UK-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (FTA). That was quite a long process, but we are pleased to say we have signed the FTA and it has a bespoke Māori trade and economic cooperation chapter in it. It has a lot of important stuff around cooperation between the UK and Māori business.

“It also, importantly, acknowledged the historic connection between us and acknowledges the importance of the Treaty of Waitangi. That, I think, is quite exciting, in terms of a new chapter writ large for the UK and New Zealand.

“One of the things we would like to do going forward is some kind of Māori trade delegation to the UK to make sure we seize the benefits of that FTA.

“We, as the UK government, wanted to understand the aspirations of Māori.”

There had also been a lot of work done around climate change and the environment, like making sure Māori indigenous perspectives were fed into COP 26, the UK's big climate change conference last year.

“That was really valuable in terms of understanding those perspectives and making sure those perspectives were heard on the platform in Glasgow.”

The third area of cooperation between herself and the region's iwi and hapū was around cultural connections and helping to strengthen the connections between iwi and cultural institutions in the UK that house a lot of the taonga that originated from here.

“That's been a fascinating journey because you have the institutions in the UK that have looked after those taonga and iwi that know so much about them. Since then long-term loans had been arranged to ensure taonga could return to the region, as well as to establish scholarships for Māori cultural studies students to spend time in the UK with those institutions.”

Commissioner Clarke was in the region for a two-day visit this week before she leaves her role in three weeks to return to a new (unannounced) position in the UK.

“It's really just about coming back and seeing the iwi, hapu and friends we made over the past three years or so both in terms of the Tuia 250 commemorations and subsequently the Expression of Regret.

“This is my fifth visit to Gisborne, but I didn't want to leave the country without coming back and seeing all those friends and reinforcing those connections.”

Originally from rural Essex, she is married to Kiwi lawyer Toby and has three children; Blake (12), Nell (10) and Margot (8).

Commissioner Clarke said the big thing she would take away from her four years in New Zealand were the relationships she had built.

“For me, the big thing has been the people in New Zealand and the relationships we built. My husband is a Kiwi and our kids are half Kiwi, but had never lived here and what's wonderful for us as a whānau is our kids are now proper Kiwis. My husband has lived and worked in the country in which he grew up. Even though we are going home to the UK, this also feels like home and we will always come back.”

The incoming new commissioner will be Iona Thomas who will take up the role in August.

Commissioner Clarke said the region could expect continued interaction to make sure all sectors of the economy were able to take advantage of the UK-NZ FTA.

“Not only what that brings in terms of exporting potential, but also in the services space, investment and making sure that everyone is in a position to take advantage of those opportunities and keeping those people to people connections.

“Even though I'm going, the relationship with the British High Commission will endure. It's going to be a constant and we will be working to see what more we can do together. That could include learning opportunities for young people. It's about investing in the relationship and strengthening the connections between us.”