Wairoa's Hinerangi Edwards (ONZM): 'This honour is their honour'

Hinerangi Edwards co-founded AATEA, an organisation that serves to grow kaupapa Māori influence and contribution to New Zealand, with her husband Kiwa Hammond in 2000.

When Hinerangi Edwards (ONZM) was told she would be made a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, she wasn't sure whether to accept the honour.

Wairoa-based Edwards, whose whakapapa is to Taranaki whānui, Tauranga Moana, Te Arawa and Samoa, received the honour for services to Māori, governance and education.

She said that as Māori, she had to consider how she felt to be receiving an honour from the Queen, something many leaders have turned down in the past.

"Does it sit well to accept this in the context of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, which is still a work in progress in terms of it being honoured," Edwards said she asked herself before consulting her whānau.

Edwards did accept the award on behalf of all those who contributed to her having the opportunities she has had to serve others.

"Make sure that this honour is their honour and ensure that this is just fuel to continue serving and to continue forging a better Aotearoa for all of our kids," she said.

Edwards co-founded AATEA, an organisation that serves to grow kaupapa Māori influence and contribution to New Zealand, with her husband Kiwa Hammond in 2000.

The pair and their five children moved to Hammond's home of Wairoa 10 years ago, and Edwards said she loves living in the amazing community there.

"Great leaders come from here and I hope that one day I can support furthering and growing the aspirations of the people of this place," she said, noting that most of the work she does with AATEA and on various boards takes place at a national level.

Edwards has chaired the Ringa Hora Services Workforce Development Council since last year, and she said she also accepts the honour on behalf of the services workers they support, since they often go unrecognised for the work they do.

"This is where our communities live," she said.