PM Jacinda Ardern and other MPs are welcomed onto the treaty grounds at Waitangi.
Video / Michael Cunningham
"By our deeds you will know us," said PM Jacinda Ardern today in her speech at the end of the powhiri on the Treaty Grounds at Waitangi.
According to Opposition leader Simon Bridges, that's the problem. In a break with convention he slammed the Government for not delivering and, speakinglater, called the projects funded by the Provincial Growth Fund "trinkets".
Ardern listed many achievements, including Māori unemployment at its "lowest level for 10 years", the graduation of 500 new te reo teachers and 2000 Māori families into new state houses. "But" she said after each item on her list, "there is more mahi [work] to be done."
Ardern spoke at length about "crossing the bridge", which refers to the willingness of Māori to cross over the Pākehā world, and Pākehā to make the same journey the other way.
"It's not just crossing it that matters, it's how you cross it," she said. "For the first time, Māori are now properly represented on district hospital boards."
Asked if Oranga Tamariki was a troll under the bridge, she denied it and said all sides were working together and it was important to do that. Dame Naida Glavish, who was at her side last year, would disagree. Today, Glavish was 200 metres away at the Copthorne hotel speaking about the Government's failure to address the problems of Oranga Tamariki.
Ardern told the assembled Ngaphui elders and VIPs, "We are here to acknowledge the past, and challenge the present, and it is also the place to be hopeful for our future. I will keep coming back for you to challenge me, and you must continue to challenge me."
Earlier Ardern and other political leaders were welcomed on to the upper marae at Waitangi.
Ardern was led onto the marae at the front of the group, holding the hand of veteran local leader Titewhai Harawira, and flanked by NZ First leader Winston Peters, Bridges, Green Party co-leader James Shaw and Labour deputy leader Kelvin Davis.
The group was welcomed with a powerful haka by about 30 warriors and 60 kaihoe (paddlers), most of whom are young women.
The ceremony was affected by a widespread power cut in Northland which left the big video screens blank.
Isaiah Apiata, holding a greenstone mere, was the first speaker of the hau kainga. His words were translated into sign language.
Political leaders were met with a ceremonial challenge. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Apiata called on the Prime Minister to make dental treatment free, saying dentistry was beyond the ability of many to pay, while the second speaker, Anaru Kira of Whangaroa, urged Ardern and Bridges to accept the Stage 1 report of the Waitangi Tribunal's Northland Inquiry.
Stage 1, which was released in 2014, found Ngāpuhi did not cede sovereignty when the chiefs signed the Treaty in 1840.
In his speech, Bridges attacked the Government for failing to deliver. He said Ardern promised last year "there would be less poverty and reduced inequality" but it hadn't happened.
He described the Puhoi to Wellsford highway "which I started with [National MP] Mark Mitchell" as "one of only two transport projects happening now" and said Northland deserved better economic support.
