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Rātana Pā and Village is in line for a significant upgrade with support from Shane Jones’ $1.2 billion regional infrastructure fund and he has a warning for Māoridom - drop the Green Lantern thinking.
Regional Development Minister Jones has been in discussions with Housing Minister Chris Bishop about the needs of the township near Whanganui, which plays host to major hui several times a year.
An upgrade was promised in the term of the previous National Government minister by then Treaty Negotiations Chris Finlayson, who committed to a housing and infrastructure upgrade of Rātana Pā, but the initiative fell by the wayside under Labour.
Jones confirmed the Rātana upgrade was back on the table.
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones confirms the Rātana upgrade was back on the table.
He said he and Bishop were awaiting technical infrastructure reports before allocating funding.
“We are finalising the nuts and bolts of the Regional Infrastructure Funding criteria and there will be an opportunity for Māori projects which are practical and likely to add to local resilience,” Jones told the Herald.
“I’m waiting on advice as to what steps we can take to develop better outcomes for the Rātana Village.
“Former National Governments have spent a reasonable amount of putea to tidying up their housing woes - so there’s a track record of the Crown working with Māori in this village.”
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters lead the Government delegation on to the marae at Rātana Pa on January 24. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Rātana is a Māori Christian church and movement, headquartered at Rātana Pā near Whanganui. The Rātana movement began in 1918, when Tahupōtiki Wiremu Rātana experienced visions, and began a mission of faith healing and has strong links to Labour and lately Te Pāti Māori.
Jones said the regional fund would help both Māori and non-Māori infrastructure.
“My message to iwi this time around is abandon Green Lantern [comic book] thinking,” he said.
“Our challenges are beyond any comic strip, and in the regions they relate to everyone, irrespective of your whakapapa, religion, ethnicity, regardless of your economic status.
“I’m looking for practical local solutions where local Māori leaders work with me and the Government and let’s kick this co-governance into touch - I’m interested in co-investment and quite frankly the vast majority of whānau households are.”
The Rātana Church. Photo / Whakaata Māori
He said there was a foolish belief that Māori should dedicate their willpower on outcomes about themselves.
“Splintering off and encouraging this ideology that Māori are an island unto themselves and separate from the social, economic and even the cultural trajectory of New Zealand is silly,” Jones said.
He said last week’s nationwide hikoi gained very little.
Thousands took to the streets last Thursday protesting the coalition Government’s stance against a number of Māori issues.
“Te Pāti Māori marched everyone to the peak of the hill and they all fell down the hill,” Jones said.
He said there was an elite group of Māori who were making other Māori feel inadequate because they don’t have the reo or the whakapapa.
“I’m quite disturbed in the way the expression ‘we are the kohanga generation’ is used by the Māori Party and it runs the risk of accentuating a new type of elitism and unless you reflect a cultural facility or a kapa haka addiction, then you are less worthy,” Jones said.
“And that is what the Māori Party is saying to my Cabinet colleague Karen Chhour.”
Joseph Los’e is an award winning journalist and joined NZME in 2022 as Kaupapa Māori Editor. Los’e was a chief reporter, news director at the Sunday News newspaper covering crime, justice and sport. He was also editor of the NZ Truth and prior to joining NZME worked for urban Māori organisation Whānau Waipareira.
