Claire Trevett: 'Rock star' Jacinda Ardern charms iwi leaders at Waitangi

Henare Hape, Northland's oldest Maori Warden, shares a laugh with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern at Waitangi. Photo / Peter de Graaf

When Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern arrived to meet the Maori Wardens on her charm offensive of Maori at Waitangi, kaumatua Henare Hape asked quietly if he could hold her hand.

"I can hold your hand," Ardern replied and reached out for it.

The visit to the Maori Wardens was the second item on Ardern's five day Waitangi sojourn, and the delighted welcome and selfies with the aunties afterwards would have come as a relief after the meeting before it.

That was with about 150 from the Iwi Leaders' Forum. The iwi leaders are by and large pragmatic and business-minded. They know how to fight and don't like to give an inch.

So Ardern must have had some qualms as she lined up to go to speak to them. The leaders were wary of the new government, not least because its ministers had told them that if they wanted to work together it would be on issues Labour prioritised rather than National.

That was child wellbeing, homelessness and poverty rather than rights such as forestry, fisheries and water.

But Ardern is one of those people seemingly blessed with good timing. Her first stroke of luck was the decision to remove the usual visit to Te Tii Marae off the calendar.

Instead, the politicians will be welcomed onto the Upper Marae where trouble is a more distant prospect.

Her other stroke of luck - or design - was that once the powhiri and morning tea for the Iwi Leaders Forum were done, there was just an hour left for both sides to have their say.

That meant many of the thorny issues Ardern will eventually have to face were not canvassed, such as how Labour would deal with Maori water rights once it went ahead with plans to levy exports of bottled water.

So by the time the meeting ended, Ardern had not had to say anything to displease those leaders. In fact, many of the usually sceptical leaders seemed charmed.

"She's a rock star," said one of the iwi leaders - a stalwart National supporter - after the meeting, clearly somewhat surprised at himself for being won over.

It was the trickiest meeting of her time in Waitangi but also the most important. Labour won back all seven of the Maori seats in 2017. The trick now is to hold onto them. Ardern is determined to ensure that happens.

Her baby is helping. She had more security about her than in the past, but the baby provides its own security. And wherever she goes, she is gifted another name for the incoming child.

Ardern's diary is otherwise full of the ceremonial rituals at Waitangi and the campaign style encounters with "ordinary" people that she excels at.

Todaywill be spent at Karetu Marae, the home marae for her deputy leader Kelvin Davis. To say it will be Labour-friendly is an understatement.

It is not as if she has any competition - her rival National leader Bill English will be right at the other end of the country at Bluff on Waitangi Day.

Ardern will even feed the crowds at a breakfast after the Waitangi Day dawn service.

But a political diet can not solely be the candy floss. At some point, those issues the iwi leaders want addressed must be confronted. Ardern has taken the first step simply by fronting up.