He spoke – somewhat disingenuously – about the need to take the focus away from politicians at Waitangi, and ensure Waitangi was about the Treaty and Declaration of Independence, and nationhood rather than politicians.
The reason that is somewhat disingenuous is because it was at Waitangi that Ardern first asked the Maori people to hold her to account for her work each time she returned.
That somewhat set it up as an opportunity for a politician to be the focus.
Te Tii Marae has long been the place where the 'holding to account' was done. That was sometimes done vigorously: a string of incidents and protests, as well as disputes over speaking rights, led to it being dropped from the politicians' agenda from 2018.
It was the place Ngāpuhi discussed whether to sign Te Tiriti o Waitangi prior to heading up to the Waitangi grounds for the signing. Davis noted the footprints of those ancestors remained on the earth there.
That too is still debated: the Waitangi Tribunal has found Ngāpuhi did not cede their sovereignty when signing: there are attempts to get the Government too to acknowledge that.
It is still the place where the political debate is held – but now without the ones who are supposed to be held to account going there.
This year saw the return of Labour to Te Tii Marae, rather than the return of the Government.
There was a touch of the Government: Treaty Negotiations Minister Andrew Little said he had gone on in his capacity as a minister.
He was also the last Labour leader to go on: that was in February 2017 before he stepped down and handed the leadership to Ardern.
Whether today's visit by Labour will open the door for Ardern's first visit as Prime Minister remains to be seen.
Davis sounded cautious about that.
He said until the decision to take Te Tii off the politicians' agenda, there had been talk about moving the celebrations away from Waitangi, or even changing the date for a national celebration. It was not something he wanted to see, and changing the venue for the politicians' powhiri had helped dampen that.
He was not the only one cautious about the prospect of that changing.
Titewhai Harawira has walked on alongside multiple Prime Ministers over the years – but she did not see the return of a Prime Minister to the marae as something that should just happen.
Harawira had mixed views about the return of the MPs at all, saying it was not something that had been discussed and agreed on by Ngapuhi.
As for Ardern, she said it was proper for the Prime Minister to continue to visit only the national marae on the Treaty grounds until Ngāpuhi decided it was time to invite her back to Te Tii. In short, don't come until you are invited.
Ardern arrived in Waitangi late this afternoon, ahead of four days of engagements in Northland.
That will start with a visit to Ruapekapeka for the unveiling of a memorial stone for 12 British soldiers killed in the wars at the pā in early 1846.
British High Commissioner Laura Clarke and Governor-General Patsy Reddy will also attend.
