Hui to share views on Māori response

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Only just getting settled into running the country, the coalition Government is facing a period of challenge on what could be the defining issue of its whole term, its relationship with Māori.

Thousands of tangata whenua converge on Tūrangawaewae Marae today answering a call from Māori King Tūheitia to discuss the Government’s plans for Māori.

It comes after a growing perception among Māori that its policies threaten advances made over the past four decades; that they are anti-Māori, divisive and harmful to both the language and the Treaty of Waitangi.

Over 3000 were registered for the nationwide hui, which is an extremely rare event, and as many as 5000 were expected to attend.

One thing that has irritated Māori is the coalition announcement it will require the vast majority of public service departments to communicate primarily in English and use English names first. Some departments have already made the change.

The Government faces four legal challenges to that action, including one submitted by the hosts of today’s hui, Tainui.

The Waitangi Tribunal has received two applications under urgency over the Government’s plans to disestablish the Māori Health Authority and change parts of the Oranga Tamariki Act, saying these are a breach of the Treaty.

Māori are also very concerned about a projected review of the Treaty principles, believing that National’s coalition partners Act and New Zealand First want to revise the Treaty. That would lead to a level of confrontation not seen since the foreshore and seabed controversy or Whina Cooper’s historic land march.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon will have taken some of the sting out of the criticisms by meeting with the Māori King and Ngāi Tahu this week, but only at the margins.

Luxon has been criticised for his decision not to attend the hui, instead sending the Minister of Māori Development Tama Potaka, who also attended the meeting with King Tūheitia, and backbencher Dan Bidois. But the King himself said the hui was all about listening and certainly not about politicians making speeches.

Luxon has said the reality is that the new Government has only just been sworn in and that it is going to get things done for Māori and non-Māori.

This hui will be followed in quick succession by the Ratana Church celebrations, which are traditionally attended by the leadership of the main parties, and a Waitangi Day which is set to be more confrontational than in the recent past.

Today, then, is just the start of a period of intense scrutiny for the Government which will carry on well into its term.