Waitangi Day 2023: Politicians wrestle with the rules of not talking politics - then mostly do so anyway

For political leaders at Waitangi Day, there was a difficult puzzle to solve.

They faced requests from the hosts to dial down political talk, to speak te reo Māori and to aim for an expression of the language that celebrates its beauty through the art and mastery of the speaker.

But as more than one politician asked after the events of the morning were done, how can you take the politics out of Waitangi Day?

Political leaders of Parliament’s parties made their way to Waitangi ahead of our national day of commemoration in an annual pilgrimage in which the Crown comes eye-to-eye with its treaty partners.

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and National Leader of the Opposition Christopher Luxon meet outside the Waitangi treaty grounds. Photo / Jaime Lyth

In times past, it has been a place of friction. In today’s world there is still heat but organisers of the event sought to make it less obvious than the blazing Northland sun that greeted the hundreds who attended.

It saw new Prime Minister Chris Hipkins occupy the same space as the man who would have his job, National leader Chris Luxon.

Read More

• Waitangi Day 2023: Te reo name given to Prime Minister ...
• Hipkins and Luxon at Waitangi in their first big face-off ...
• Waitangi 2023: PM Chris Hipkins and National’s Christopher ...
• Waitangi 2023: Four days of debate, spectacle, family ...
• A brief history of Waitangi Day

Neither entirely heeded the request to avoid politics, albeit with rhetoric dialled down from the heights it reached during Jacinda Ardern’s time in the top job which even saw her announce policy.

And neither are yet at the point with their respective te reo Māori lessons to nail an entire speech in anything other than English.

Hipkins said: “We acknowledge that 183 years ago, people gathered here to do something very, very bold - to chart a course forward not by conquest but by working together.”

He said it was a path not always followed and the time since had seen “much misunderstanding, too much mistrust and far too many broken promises”.

And yet each year, everyone returned to Waitangi “to renew our shared commitment to the prosperity of everyone who calls New Zealand home”.

While Hipkins didn’t raise the term “co-governance”, he wove a narrative that addressed concerns in the community that have been elevated by some political opponents.

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins speaking at Waitangi today. Photo / Tania Whyte

He spoke of his lack of contact with te ao Māori as a child and how that had changed. To approval from the hosts, he spoke of the “trepidation” he felt first coming to Waitangi as an MP 15 years ago and how “the images that we see on the TV news have never reflected the experience that I have had here on the ground”.

He praised those who were “courageous” starting the treaty settlement process and the decisions they made. “Because I believe the role of leaders is to light the path forward and not exploit the darkness which comes with uncertainty.”

Hipkins said when he reflected on the uncertainty which existed in those early days “with the knowledge now there was nothing to fear”.

“And much of the contemporary debate, unfortunately, is still characterised by a degree of uncertainty and fear. But with honesty and understanding we can overcome that and we can see this process through.”

That process, he said, went beyond settling historic grievances and included the modern repercussions of historic grievances along with inequity in education, health and justice.

Luxon, introduced in te reo by health spokesman Shane Reti, spoke of the treaty as a “challenging, imperfect but ultimately inspiring document” through which New Zealand had sought to understand what was intended by those who signed it

In the years since it was created, “the promise and obligations of the treaty were not upheld by the Crown”.

National leader Chris Luxon said most New Zealanders supported the settlements of historic grievances held by Māori. Photo / Tania Whyte

And despite the pain involved - “there is no doubt we are a better, more open, more tolerant country as a result”. He said the treaty process had required “generosity of spirit” on both parties and most New Zealanders “can see that settlements have been a genuine best endeavour to put things right”.

“I would hope that by 2030 we could complete treaty settlements with all iwi that are willing to settle. Then it will be possible to declare the tremendous national reconciliation project of treaty settlements that began in the 1990s is complete.

“In the last 183 years we have got many things right. We started on the 6th of February 1840 as a little experiment and look at us now - a 21st-century success story able to handle the challenges that come our way.”

The korero from the leaders of Parliament’s largest parties was a contrast to that from Te Paati Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, MP for Waiariki, and the Green Party’s Teanu Tuiono, who used their comfort and fluency in the language to speak to and around the rules.

Waititi used allegory and metaphor to voice the country’s challenges with climate and inequity. “We must not talk politics,” he said. “Very few of us in Parliament speak Māori. Our language must be heard in that house and be resounding.”

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and Green Party leaders James Shaw and Marama Davidson walk onto the Waitangi grounds. Photo / Jaime Lyth

Tuiono was similarly demure in confronting issues head on, acknowledging the death of kuia Titewhai Harawira this month and the storms she had brought in life to the storm that followed her death - then segued to climate change and the work being done by his co-leader, James Shaw.

Then there was Act leader David Seymour who delivered the surprise, speaking te reo he had learned by rote supported by notes. He recounted his links to the Northland iwi Ngati Rehia and Nga Puhi to surprised laughter and approval from his hosts.

And, of course, there was NZ First leader Winston Peters. Supported by Shane Jones, who is also NZ First, the pair’s Tai Tokerau ties meant they sat with the hosts and not the politicians.

But what an “uninspiring bunch” of speakers, Peters reckoned. Just wait, said Peters with no small mischief and a hint of prophecy, because it’s going to be a lot more interesting after the election.