Climate change has been a key focus for iwi leaders gathering at Waitangi this week, as coastal communities across New Zealand’s North Island recover from recent severe weather events.

The National Iwi Chairs Forum, representing more than 70 iwi, has been meeting to set priorities for the year ahead, with leaders pointing to the increasing frequency and severity of weather events as a growing concern.

Taane Aruka Te Aho, one of the rangatahi leaders of Te Kāhu Pōkere — the group that travelled to Brazil for COP30 last year — told RNZ that recent weather events across the motu have become a repeating pattern.

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“The data shows us that these climate catastrophes are going to keep coming, more frequent, more severe. We’ve seen that in Te Tai Tokerau, in Tauranga Moana, in Te Araroa,” he said.

On behalf of Te Pou Take Āhuarangi, the climate change arm of the National Iwi Chairs Forum, Te Kāhu Pōkere attended the UN Climate Change Conference (COP30) in November 2025.

They were the first iwi-mandated rangatahi Māori delegation to attend a global COP.

At this year’s forum, the rōpū is presenting its findings and what can be taken back to hapū, iwi and hapori.

‘Key learnings’
“One of the key learnings for me was the importance of data sovereignty and data strategies harnessing environmental data to help us in our climate-based decision-making,” Te Aho said.

In the wake of flooding and storms in the north and east of the country, dozens of marae again opened their doors to displaced whānau, providing shelter, kai and serving as Civil Defence hubs.

Te Aho said those responses showed the strength of Māori-led systems of care.

“It’s paramount that we acknowledge our whānau, but also fund our whānau to keep resourcing, because they are the ones opening up their doors,” he said.

“To ensure not only our mokopuna are thriving, but to ensure our people of today can go back to work, that they’re looked after. Pākeke mai, rangatahi mai, kaumātua mai, kei konei te iwi Māori ki te tautoko i a rātou.”

Last month, the government announced a $1 million Marae Emergency Response Fund to reimburse marae for welfare support provided during the severe weather events, allowing them to “replenish resources and build resilience.”

Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka said at the time, the fund “ensures marae are not left carrying the costs of that mahi”.

‘Building resilience’
“Allowing them to replenish what was used, recover from the immediate response, and continue to build their resilience for future events.”

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon also praised the response from marae.

“Marae have been exceptional in the way they have stepped up to help their communities, providing shelter, food and care to people in need,” he said.

Pou Tangata chairperson Rahui Papa welcomed government support for marae but said long-term planning was needed.

“Back in Cyclone Gabriel, they talked about a 100-year weather event. It’s come up three or four times within the last few years,” he said.

“And I’m picking that, with my weather crystal ball . . .  it’s going to happen time and time again.

“So comprehensive responses have to be employed. Emergency centres at marae have been just absolutely wonderful. I take my hat off to those communities and those marae that have worked together to really find a way to look after the community.”

Climate change key issue
Ngāti Hine chairperson Pita Tipene said climate change was one of the key issues being coordinated at a national level.

“There’s no point in planning for something next week and next month if we’re consigning our planet to the changes that are upon us,” he said.

“We only have to look at the devastation around Te Tai Tokerau, let alone Tauranga Moana and Tai Rāwhiti.”

Tipene also acknowledged the contribution of Te Kāhu Pōkere.

“The young people who went to COP in Brazil and presented back to us said the solutions are in place and led by people. Their messages were very, very clear and the energy and the focus that they bring to those efforts is significant,” he said.

“The National Iwi Chairs Forum comes together because we know we have much more strength together than we are alone. And so coordinating our efforts into areas that will improve the circumstances of our people or protect and enhance the environments of our people, that’s our overall priority.”

Forum members also unanimously backed a legal challenge by Hauraki iwi Ngāti Manuhiri, which is taking the government to the High Court over amendments to the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act. The changes, made last year, raised the threshold for iwi seeking customary marine title.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon faced sustained heckling and had to fend off questions about a revived Treaty Principles Bill as he returned to Waitangi this year.

ACT leader David Seymour predictably attracted his own jeers, and NZ First’s Winston Peters focused on a return serve.

The opposition was not spared criticism either yesterday, with Labour accused of backstabbing, and Te Pāti Māori given a stern word to sort out their internal problems and finish the work it started at Parliament.

• READ MORE: Indigenous and Pacific leaders unite at Waitangi with shared messages on ocean conservation
• Big Ka Lāhui Hawaiʻi delegation joins Māori in solidarity over Te Tiriti
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But Luxon was clearly the one attracting the most ire.

Even before MPs walked onto the upper Treaty Grounds, a group of 40 or so protesters led by activist Wikatana Popata gathered as he made a rousing speech beneath the flagstaff — calling the coalition “the enemy”.

“These fellas are accountable to America, they’re here on behalf of America e tātou mā. Don’t you see what my uncle Shane [Jones] is doing?” he said.

“My uncle Shane, he’s giving the okay to all the oil drilling and the mining because those are American companies e tātou mā. So wake up.

‘Not scared of arrests’
“We’re not quite sure who our enemy is, well let me remind us: those people that are about to walk in, that’s our enemy . . .  we’re not scared of your arrests, we’re not scared of your jail cells or your prisons.

“We’ve been imprisoned . ..  we kōrero Māori to our tamariki at home, we practise our tikanga Māori at home, so you will never imprison us.”

The group performed a haka in protest against the politicians’ presence amid the more formal haka welcoming them to the marae. A small scuffle broke out as security stopped some of the protesters — who were shouting “kupapa”, or “traitor” — from advancing closer.

Speaking from the pae in te reo Māori on behalf of the haukāinga, Te Mutunga Rameka paid tribute to retiring Labour MP Peeni Henare and challenged Māori MPs working for the government, asking “where is your kotahitanga, where is your unity?”.

The next speaker, Eru Kapa-Kingi, acknowledged the protesters outside — saying he had challenged from outside in the past and now he was challenging from within the marae.

“Why do we continue to welcome the spider to our house,” he asked.

“This government has stabbed us in the front, but others stabbed us in the back,” he said, referring to Labour.

“Sort yourself out,” was his message to them, and to Te Pāti Māori, which in November ousted two of its MPs.

Part of ructions
Kapa-Kingi was arguably a central part of those ructions, however, having been employed by his mother Mariameno — one of those ousted MPs — and leading some of the criticism of the party’s leadership.

His criticism of Labour highlighted the departure of Henare, who he said had been — like his mother — silenced by his party.

Henare soon rose to his feet, saying according to custom those named on the marae were entitled to speak — and he spoke of humility.

“We must be very humble, extremely humble. And so that’s why I stand humbly before you . . .  Parliament kept me safe over the years.

“We have reached a point in time where I have completed my work. And so I ask everyone to turn their thoughts to what was said this morning: the hopes, aspirations, and desires of our people.”

Henare and his soon-to-be-former boss, Labour leader Chris Hipkins, have both batted away speculation about other reasons behind his departure — not least from NZ First deputy Shane Jones.

Hipkins himself acknowledged Henare in his speech, saying “our hearts are heavy today. We know we are returning you to your whānau in the North, but you are still part of our whānau. And we know where to find you”.

‘Lot of rubbish’
He later told reporters Kapa-Kingi was talking “a lot of rubbish”, that the last Labour government did more for Māori than many others, and Labour had already admitted it got the Foreshore and Seabed legislation wrong.

Seymour was up next and spoke of liberal democratic values; dismissing complaints of colonisation as a “myopic drone”; and saying the defeat of the Treaty Principles Bill was a pyrrhic victory because — he believed — it would return and become law in future.

Defending his comments on colonisation later, he said it had been more good than bad, as “even the poorest people in New Zealand today live like Kings and Queens compared with most places in most times in history”.

Conch shells and complaints about growing sick during Seymour’s speech clearly fired up the next speaker, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters — who said he did not come to be insulted or speak about politics.

“There’s some young pup out there shouting who doesn’t know what day it is,” he said, calling for a return to the interests of “one people, one nation”.

As the shouting started, Peters repeated his line there would come a time where they wanted to speak to him long before he wanted to speak to them.

Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson then rose to speak from the mahau, echoing the words of the late veteran campaigner Titewhai Harawira, urging the Crown to honour the Treaty, “it is not hard”.

Green candidates
The party announced during the events yesterday it would be standing candidates in three Māori seats, including list MP Huhana Lyndon, lawyer Tania Waikato, and former Te Pāti Māori candidate Heather Te Au-Skipworth — and Davidson staked out her party’s claim to those seats.

“When the giants, the rangatira of our Green Party — before the Pāti Māori was even formed — were the only party in the 2004 Foreshore hīkoi to meet the people, the masses, to uphold Te Tiriti,” she said.

With the government trampling treaty and environment while corporations benefited, she said giving land back was core.

While her speech was welcomed with applause, the government’s hecklers soon turned up the noise for the Prime Minister.

After skipping last year’s pōwhiri amid tensions over the Treaty Principles Bill, Luxon began by saying it was a tremendous privilege to be back, someone already shouting “we’ve had enough”.

He spoke about the the meaning of the Treaty as he saw it, and the importance of discussing and debating rather than turning on one another.

“It speaks so highly of us that we can come together at times like this, but it is also relevant on Waitangi Day as we think about how we’ve grappled and wrestled with other challenging issues as well,” he said.

Shouts and jeers
Shouts and jeers could be heard throughout, but he ploughed on undeterred.

“. . .  I think we have the Treaty to thank for that, because that has enabled us to engage much better with each other and we should take immense pride in that.”

One person could be heard yelling “treason” as Luxon spoke. He later said it was “typical of what we expect at Waitangi . . .  I enjoyed it”.

Asked if his government was honouring the Treaty, he said “yes”.

“We take it very seriously. It’s our obligation to honour the Treaty, but we work it out by actually making sure we are lifting educational outcomes for Māori kids, we work it out by making sure we are lifting health outcomes, we work it out by making sure we’re making a much more safer community.”

Luxon has been rejecting the idea of a revived Treaty Principles Bill since the day after it was voted down, but his coalition partner Seymour has been pledging its return for even longer.

The Prime Minister has reiterated his stance several times in the lead-up to Thursday’s pōwhiri, and did so again: “David can have his own take on that but I’m just telling you, it ain’t happening,” he said.

Referendum ‘divisive’
Ahead of the 2023 election, he had said redefining the Treaty’s principles was not his party’s policy and they did not support it, that a referendum — as the bill proposed — would be “divisive and unhelpful”, and a referendum would not be on the coalition table.

He was asked, given that, how ironclad his guarantee could be with an election campaign still to come and governing arrangements yet to be confirmed.

“We’ve been there and we killed it, so we’re done,” he said, clearly hoping for finality on the matter.

Te Tai Tokerau kaumātua and veteran broadcaster Waihoroi Shortland bookended the speeches.

Beginning with a Winston Churchill quote — that democracy is a bad form of government but the others are worse — Shortland said it was easy to remark on how divisive Māori were “when you all live in the most divisive house in the country”.

He called for Henare to be allowed to leave politics with dignity, but extended no such luxury for Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi.

“Rawiri, I cannot allow you to come away. Your work is not done. It is crushing to see and to hear what the House does kia koutou, kia tātou, ki te Māori — but we sent you there nevertheless, and that work is not done. Find a way.”

‘Feel the pain’
Waititi had spoken earlier, thanking Eru Kapa-Kingi for what he had said.

“I can hear the anger and I can feel the pain. And the courage to stand before the people and say what you had to say,” he said.

He said the party wanted to meet with Ngāpuhi but had been “scattered” when invited to a hui in November, and indicated an eagerness to meet.

“We are still eager to gather with you but we must make the proper arrangements before we can,” he said.

“It’s alright to have problems. But we must experience those problems in our own house. If those problems go outside, the horse will bolt.”

He said the current government was “nibbling like a sandfly” at the Treaty, and there was “only one enemy before us, and it is not ourselves”.

But that fell short of what Mariameno Kapa-Kingi had hoped for, telling reporters she initially thought an apology was coming.

She said she was disappointed Waititi did not fully address their stoush in his speeches, and she was committed to standing in Te Tai Tokerau — presumably, regardless of her party affiliation.

“I’m not going anywhere until our people tell me otherwise. I’ve got much to do.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Before the sun rose and the birds started singing in Aotearoa today, thousands of people arrived for the traditional dawn service on the Waitangi Treaty Grounds.

Standing in the footprints of those who first signed Te Tiriti o Waitangi, they listened to sermons from church ministers and Bible readings from politicians, while singing hymns.

But as always, the highlight was the spectacular sunrise, which washed the grounds in golden rays.

• READ MORE: Waitangi Day 2024: Dawn service turns to unity, love and togetherness
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• How the day unfolded with RNZ’s live blog

It was a moment which made standing in the longest queue in the world for coffee seem fine.

The waka came back to the beach — Kaihoe paddling strongly and proud just like their tūpuna — and the rowers were called ashore, then entertained the thousands of onlookers with a haka.

Watch a livestream of this morning’s ceremony:

The Waitangi dawn Service. Video: RNZ News

The grounds were awash with thousands of people again later in the morning, holding or wrapped in Tino Rangatiratanga and Te Whakaputanga flags for the hīkoi — another tradition.

About 1000 people marched onto the Treaty grounds, all echoing a call that has gone out again and again over the past few days — Uphold te Tiriti — Toitū te Tiriti!

Hīkoi leader Reuben Taipari acknowledged those who walked with him and encouraged everyone to continue the fight for their mokopuna.

“This new generation coming through now, it’s a powerful generation. They are the raukura, they are the graduates of kōhanga reo, kura kaupapa, whare wānanga,” he said.

“They don’t have a struggle with who they are . . .  so we need to support that new generation.

“We have the experience, but they have the energy.”

It did not take long for the grounds and surrounding markets to fill up, with every piece of shade taken as the sun was scorching.

Lines for drinks, ice creams or anything cold were endless, while teens jumped from the bridge into sea below to cool off and show off.

The roads in and out of Waitangi ground to a stand-still as an endless stream of cars kept coming.

The festival was pumping — each stage was packed with spectators as kapa haka and bands entertained. All the free rides and bouncy castles were full of happy kids.

The most popular item being sold was anything with a Tino Rangatira or Whakaputanga flag on it, or iwi merch.

All accommodation was booked out weeks ago, but it did not stop people coming — some sleeping in their cars just to be part of the day.

This could be one of the biggest turn-outs in Waitangi on Waitangi Day, with tens of thousands of people attending, coming to Waitangi to be part of the Kotahitanga movement, and enforce the message of Toitū te Tiriti.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

The crowd booed a combative Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and drowned out Associate Treaty Minister David Seymour, while Prime Minister Christopher Luxon sombrely reflected on history at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds today.

It was a confronting reception for the coalition government.

Thousands gathered for the annual commemorations and to carry on the kōrero begun about the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi at last month’s nation-wide hui.

• READ MORE: Waitangi Day 2024: RNZ’s live news blog
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The scene had been set over the weekend, as opposition parties, iwi leaders and the Kiingitanga arrived on Te Whare Runanga in a show of solidarity.

Waitangi National Trust Board chair Pita Tipene said there was a “lot of tension in the air” and Tāme Iti led a white flag hikoi onto the Treaty Grounds this morning.

Activist lawyer Annette Sykes called out ACT leader David Seymour for “tinkering with Te Tiriti” and presenting “rewritten lines in te reo Māori to the nation that don’t make any sense”.

‘Behind closed doors’
“David Seymour I want to talk to you from my Pākehā whakapapa, not my Māori one.,” she said.

“My father was a staunch Catholic. He would never tinker with the testament of the Bible.

“The ten commandments are what he lived by. He would never presume the audacity he had the ability to do that.

“But you Mr Seymour, who doesn’t speak Māori and has had to let a woman speak today.

“You are putting forward a rewrite of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. You do it behind closed doors.

“Thank goodness. Who is the hero that leaked the document from the Ministry of Justice?”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Pacific peoples joined with tangata whenua at the weekend, calling on the Aotearoa New Zealand government to uphold indigenous principles and language.

Twelve thousand people attended the unity hui at Tuurangawaewae Marae on Saturday, called by the Kiingitanga to discuss what is being seen as anti-Māori actions by the new coalition government.

Former Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio was a panel speaker, saying it was “an absolute privilege to support and participate in this vital work”.

• READ MORE: NZ opposition parties urge PM Luxon to shut down ‘erase treaty’ bill
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“It is right for Maori to lead this conversation and not politicians, as the political timeline is short-term while Maori perspectives are long-term and intergenerational.”

Aupito said these conversations were not just limited to Māori peoples, but needed to be held within strong leadership structures.

“This is the right time to have a conversation on nationhood and identity, and using indigenous knowledge and cultural intelligence and frameworks is better than using Pakeha frameworks that have often been the source of pain, harm and colonisation.”

Aupito was also asked to light one of the fires representing the mauri, or spirit of the words shared — the wind then carrying the message across the country.

‘Privilege to light fire’
“It was a privilege to be asked to light a fire as a symbol of Pacific people’s support and for the spirit of the event to now spread among the Pacific communities throughout Aotearoa New Zealand.”

In his speech, Kiingi Tuheitia Pootatau said the political message had been heard around the world.

“We’ve sent a strong message, and that message has been heard around the world . . .  our time is now, kotahitanga (unity) is the way.”

Auckland union organiser Teisa Unga said Pacific communities needed to look back on the shared history with New Zealand to understand shared ties with tangata whenua.

“We’ve grown up, and because we haven’t been taught our history, we actually don’t know the road map of where we are right now and we have this sense of amnesia.

“We need to look back and actually remember who we are, where we come from, and then that’ll start igniting a fire that we need to take it back to the culture and Te Tiriti, remembering that that was there first.”

Tongan community leader Pakilau Manase Lua said it was disappointing that Prime Minister Christopher Luxon was not there to hear the concerns of Māori iwi.

‘Unfortunate that PM’s not here’
“It’s unfortunate that he’s not here — in saying that, we’ve got Waitangi coming up, and what was said here probably will be repeated at Waitangi.

“The atmosphere here was still a little bit charged, with some quite heavy topics that are being discussed, but it’s been amazing.”

Mana Moana programme director Dr Karlo Mila said she was impressed by the clear intentions laid out by different cross sections of iwi.

“What was quite amazing for me, was to see different hapu and iwi come forth with really, really clear resolutions about what they wanted to put forward so that they could get some kind of unity around it, there was a lot of coherency in their messages.

“It felt like a real moment in history for all the provocations that are coming from the new government.”

This week, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon will aim to reassure Māori leaders about the coalition government’s actions at the annual Ratana gathering, where both he and Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters are expected to speak.

Republished with permission.

New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has described today’s Waitangi Day dawn service as moving and says he welcomes the shift away from a focus on politics.

Hundreds of people gathered before dawn to commemorate 183 years since Te Tiriti o Waitangi was signed.

• LISTEN TO RNZ MORNING REPORT: ‘We should allow good honest conversation’ – PM Chris Hipkins
• ‘I didn’t mean to say the treaty is an experiment’ – Christopher Luxon
• Live: Hundreds gather for Waitangi Day commemorations
• Waitangi Day 2023 in pictures
• What the party leaders said at Waitangi

Hipkins said the national day had a greater focus on reflection and celebration than years ago.

The criticism that politicians had come to Waitangi in the past and used Māori as a way to increase their votes was a fair one, he said.

Hipkins said he saw his role as lighting the path forwards and not playing in the uncertain space where politicians could create fear and division.

“I think Māori have often been used as a way for politicians to whip up votes in other parts of the population and that’s something that I find abhorrent.”

Trend for less politics
Asked to compare this year’s Waitangi commemorations to previous years, Hipkins said in the last five years there had been a trend for less politics on Waitangi Day.

“I think there’s been a trend in the last five and a half years or so . . . for a bit less politics on Waitangi Day and a bit more reflection and a bit more commemoration and a little bit more celebration and I really welcome that.”

Hipkins said he first attended Waitangi commemorations at Waitangi about 15 years ago and overall he had always found it “to be a pretty positive experience”.

As prime minister his role was “to try and preserve a sense of unity and common purpose,” Hipkins said.

“It’s easy to create division when it comes to race relations and we’ve seen that in the past; governments have tried to to avoid that, it tends to have come from those who are not in government who are trying to get into government and I think that’s most unfortunate.”

National Party leader Christopher Luxon said New Zealand was an intelligent country that could engage in proper debates.

“I think what I’ve seen in reaction to some of our positions, say on co-governance, is you end up with some lazy sort of baseless accusations of racism frankly,” he said.

“Because that’s not what I’m doing, I’m having a conversation to say I’m interested in the ends of advancing all Māori and all non-Māori . . .  the means by which I do that may be different.”

The fact that National does not support co-governance of public services should not be misinterpreted as the party lacking ambition or aspirations for Māori in New Zealand, he said.

Open discussion needed
A lot of New Zealanders were scared to talk about the treaty and our history, we needed good honest relations to take place, Hipkins said.

“We have to create sort of safe spaces for people to say what they think. I think we get into dangerous territory when people stop saying what they think because they’re worried what the response to that might be and then you just perpetuate misunderstanding.

“I think when you create an environment where people can say what they think and other people can challenge that and people don’t have to feel offended or confronted by that.”

The signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi was a bold vision, Hipkins said.

“If we go to the spirit of what they were trying to accomplish, I think they were trying to accomplish an ability for us all to live here together, to all prosper together without conflict.”

The goal of the treaty was to try to avoid the conquest and conflict that occurred during settlement of some other countries during the mid-1800s, he said.

The history of Aotearoa shows this attempt was somewhat limited and conquest and conflict still followed, Hipkins said.

But the goal was a very noble one and the ongoing importance of the treaty recognises that it was a goal that was worth striving for, Hipkins said.

“I think when people say he aha te mea nui o te ao, he tangata, he tangata, he tangata, when I was here with my mokopuna last year and we were the only ones here due to covid, and we had our own karakia.”

“Funnily enough, it was a similar bleak sort of a morning.

“You just can’t beat having so many people, a throng of people, hearing different voices, hearing the diversity, but feeling the unity that everybody is seeking.”

History was also made this today with the delivery of the first Muslim prayer at the dawn service, from Labour MP Ibrahim Omer.

“We look at Te Tiriti of Waitangi as being between Māori and European or Pākehā, but we really need to be thinking much, much more of the other ethnicities in our country that make up a multicultural tapestry of our nation,” he said.

“How we view it is that we have tangata whenua, or people of the land, and tangata Tiriti, which is the broad application of all people who have come here over time.”

Luxon defends ‘little experiment’ statement
Luxon spoke at Waitangi yesterday, but missed the dawn service today, instead opting to go to an event at the Takapuna Boat Club in Auckland.

One part of Luxon’s speech yesterday caused some controversy: “We started on the 6th of February 1840 as a little experiment, and look at us now — the 21st century success story able to tackle the challenges that come our way.”

Today, Luxon clarified that he did not mean to say that the treaty was an experiment.

“What we’ve done here in New Zealand is incredibly special, I mean if you think about the goodwill of those people who were here negotiating that treaty, it was unprecedented in many ways.”

Looking at what happened in other countries and how they have developed over time the treaty that had been done in New Zealand was incredibly special, he said.

“So it was a brave experiment to set up a treaty as a foundation for a whole new country, that didn’t happen if you think about it pre-1840 around the world.”

The intention was great, but the Crown did not honour its obligations and that was what a lot of New Zealand’s modern history had been about in terms of trying to deal with that issue, Luxon said.

Treaty settlements, Ngāpuhi and rangatiratanga
Asked about the concept of rangatiratanga, or the right of Māori to rule themselves, Hipkins said he was comfortable with the notion of “by Māori for Māori”.

In education there had been significant expansion of things like kura kaupapa Māori and in health some progress was being made in a by Māori for Māori approach, he said.

“I think the government can be a better partner, we can have a better relationship, we can work together better when it comes to all things Māori.”

Hipkins said the Ngāpuhi settlement was likely to be one of the most complex and difficult to achieve, but it was important to continue to approach it “with good faith and good will”.

“We’ve still got a process that we’re going through, what I can provide assurance about though is that the Crown will approach that with good faith and we want to get a settlement, so that’s a pretty good starting point.”

Luxon defended National’s goal that all treaty settlements should be completed by 2030.

Having a deadline made a government focus on getting that job done, he said.

“Treaty settlements are full and final, I mean the individual settlements are full and final, not to be opened up and discussed again.”

He acknowledged that everyone had a lot of work to do in terms of digesting the latest Waitangi Tribunal report on the Ngāpuhi claim.

On rangatiratanga, Luxon said there was one sovereign state here in New Zealand and it was the government.

Equity and equal opportunity
Equity and equal opportunity were two concepts that politicians needed to spend more time talking about, Hipkins said.

“Equal opportunity doesn’t guarantee an equal outcome, but equal opportunity also in itself isn’t necessarily equity because if you’re starting from a very different place then the opportunity in front of you might be the same, but your ability to take up that opportunity might be vastly different.”

For example, a child who starts school and already has a good base of education will be ahead of a child starting school with no education base, Hipkins said.

So treating them exactly the same in the classroom is not equity, although it might be equal opportunity, he said.

To try and address this in the education sector the government had just changed the way schools were funded to allow targeted additional funding to schools with equity challenges, and the same would be done for early childhood centres, he said.

National rejects co-governance of public services
Luxon said National was very supportive of co-management arrangements and it had led to better outcomes.

“But when it comes to the provision of national public services, from a government that’s accountable to all New Zealanders, and those services are designed to deliver to people in need, we think the better way is to have a single system of delivery.”

But there could be innovation within that system to ensure services were being delivered to those communities that needed it, he said.

Luxon said he was focused on outcomes which were targeted on the basis of need which could be delivered through many organisations which would do a much better job than central government would.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Northland kuia Titewhai Harawira has died in Avondale, aged 90.

Titewhai Harawira was a familiar face at Waitangi Day celebrations where she frequently accompanied prime ministers on to the local marae.

The proud matriarch of a close-knit family, she was heavily involved in Māori activism with strong convictions backed by a steely will.

• LISTEN TO RNZ MORNING REPORT: ‘She didn’t bow to pressure from anyone’ — Dame Nadia Glavish remembers Titewhai Harawira
• ‘A powerful personality in the social and political landscape in the North’ – Shane Jones

“We’ve got radio today, we’ve got television today, we’ve got fishing rights today, we’ve got land rights today, we’ve got a Māori Party today. Why?

“Because a few of us have had the courage to get up there and push the boundaries for the last 50 years and I don’t apologise for that to anybody then or now,” she said in an interview with RNZ in 2009.

Her son, former MP Hone Harawira, said she would lay at her home in Avondale for a night before going to Hoani Waititi Marae in Henderson to lie in state. She would return to the north for burial.

Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson paid tribute to Titewhai Harawira’s decades of “feisty, staunch activism” and passionate commitment to progressing te ao Māori aspirations.

A massive mihi
“Massive mihi to her lifelong dedication to advancing te ao Māori interests,” she said.

Titewhai Te Hoia Hinewhare was born in 1932 in the Northland farming area of Whakapara and was raised by her maternal grandparents. After training as a nurse, she married John Harawira in 1952, settling in Avondale in Auckland. They had nine children and adopted another three.

The couple were active in local schools and were founding members of the pioneering Hoani Waititi urban marae in West Auckland. Titewhai Harawira was also active in the Māori Women’s Welfare League, especially its campaign to improve Māori housing.

John Harawira died in 1977 and she brought up their extended family on her own.

She became a member of the protest group Ngā Tamatoa in the early 1970s and campaigned hard, often against bitter criticism, for the Māori language.

“We were determined to rescue our language because we felt and we believed, and we believe today, that a people without its language is a people that die,” she told RNZ in 2009.

Titewhai Harawira was one of the leaders of the 1975 land hīkoi that marched from the Far North to Parliament.

Alienation of Māori land
Growing up during the Second World War, she had seen for herself the alienation of Māori land, and the seeds for her dedication to land rights were sown.

“I saw the farms that belonged to my aunties and my cousins, and people in and around our districts, saw those farms being taken over by Māori Affairs and given out to other people, so that when our people came back from the Second World War those farms were padlocked, and they were locked off those farms.”

In later years, she was best known outside her own circles for her annual protests at Waitangi.

In 1998, she blocked then Labour Party leader Helen Clark from speaking on the marae, bringing the usually stoic Clark to tears. Harawira said she was demanding equal rights for Māori women who did not have speaking rights.

In 2000, some of elders attempted to prevent her and her companions from entering Te Tii marae because of the disruptions they caused, but the protest group eventually won the day.

Dame Nadia Glavish of Ngāti Whatua knew and worked closely with Titewhai Harawira.

“She was often called protester, but in the minds of us who walked with her it was more a protector of civil rights in this country.

Done ‘with such dignity’
“She did it with such dignity even though she didn’t bow to any pressure from anyone, government or otherwise. She was staunch and true to her cause. She was very proud to be Māori.”

Former New Zealand First MP Shane Jones said she was a fierce, determined campaigner who had a few controversial stoushes, and was also a critic of her own people.

“A very powerful woman within Māoridom. Unlike other campaigners though, Titewhai was equally fierce in her criticism of Māori leadership in the community.

“She was no spectator. She constantly said to her own people if you want to boost your quality of life and get out of helplessness and hopelessness, don’t be a spectator, or you’ll get what you’ve got which is pretty near zero.

“E te ruahine, E te kai whakatumatuma. Ko rite te wā mou, hoki ai ki te kainga tūturu, e moe, e moe, e Titewhai. Te kai whakatumatuma o Ngāpuhi. Haere atu rā.”

Passion and sincerity
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said he did not know her well, but wanted to acknowledge her passing.

“I do want to extend my condolences and my aroha to her whānau. Look, there will be a lot of Kiwis who didn’t agree with Titewhai Harawira but no one could doubt her passion, or her sincerity, and her commitment to Māori — particularly urban Māori.

“In recent years, I know that she’s played a significant role in transforming how we commemorate Waitangi Day and she should be acknowledged for that as well.

“I didn’t know her well and I won’t claim to have, but I did have a few interactions with her … I just extend to them my condolences and my very best wishes.”

When the Māori Party was formed in 2004, Titewhai Harawira wanted to stand as a candidate for it in the general election of the following year, but it was her son Hone who entered Parliament as a Māori Party MP.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Ngāti Whātua kaitiaki remain in bolstered numbers at the border between Tāmaki Makaurau and Te Tai Tokerau to stop protesters getting through.

Together with Navy and police staff at Te Hana, Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Whātua has turned around about 50 people from anti-vax and anti-lockdown groups throughout this morning.

Chief operating officer Antony Thompson (Ngāti Whātua) told RNZ protesters had come from both sides of the border to meet up, but none got through.

• READ MORE: 74 new community covid cases reported in NZ today
• Other NZ covid lockdown reports

“About 20 to 25 who got started protesting … after probably about 10 minutes they were moved on.”

His team respected the right to protest but it was the wrong place and wrong time, with a growing covid-19 cluster in the Far North, he said.

“The majority of them [protesters] have dispersed, or gone home. And there’s maybe a handful of, I guess ‘hold outs’, that are hoping that more cars turn up and they can go through together.”

The rūnanga would much rather be vaccinating whānau than having to protect them from rule-breakers, Thompson said.

“Recently our whaea Dame Naida Glavish quoted ‘this hoo-ha, this hōhā’ and it really is.”

‘Incredibly disappointed’
Police said they were “incredibly disappointed” by those rallying.

In a statement this afternoon, police said more officers had been deployed to monitor “hīkoi” activity.

“Police have additional staff deployed, including our Iwi Liaison Officers, to both monitor the hīkoi travelling north as well as additional staff in Waitangi,” the statement said.

“Our focus is to ensure the current restrictions set out in the Health Order are adhered to by those involved as well as working to support our Iwi partners in Northland.

“We are working closely with our partners, including leadership of Te Tii Marae, who have indicated that the protesters are not welcome this year due to the risk posed by the delta strain of covid-19.”

Another group of protesters attempted to make it through Auckland’s southern border late on Tuesday evening, and some remained there today, blocking State Highway 1.

The chair of Te Rūnanga-Ā-Iwi-O-Ngāpuhi Wane Wharerau (Ngāpuhi, Te Māhurehure, Uri Kaiwhare, Ngāitawake ki te Waoku / Ngāitawake ki te Tūawhenua / Ngāitawake ki te Tairāwhiti, Ngāti Hine-Mutu) also put out a statement this morning.

The protesters were “particularly dangerous” attempting to get to Waitangi, he said.

Recognising ‘real Māori freedom fighters’
“It is disappointing that organisers are using He Whakaputanga, or the Declaration of Independence, as a means to bring attention to their cause.

“Ngāpuhi recognise and honour the real Māori freedom fighters whose lifelong activism and personal sacrifice meant something and moved our people forward; freedom fighters such as Eva Rickard, Dame Whina Cooper, Titewhai Harawira, Dr Matire Harwood, Rima Edwards, Matiu Rata, Sir James Henare, and Dame Cindy Kiro just to name a few.

“Almost every Ngāpuhi urupā has evidence of the thousands of whānau, some in unmarked graves,” he said, referring to those who died in the 1918 flu pandemic.

“Now, little more than 100 years after that pandemic, Te Tai Tokerau is at the point of a similar threat, but this time we have a vaccine at our disposal.

“We have not fought this virus for 20 months and tolerated the harsh restrictions around tangihanga, gathering at marae and visiting whānau, to abandon this plan now.”

New Zealand reported 74 new community cases of covid-19 today — the lowest tally for several days. There were 68 in Auckland and six in Waikato.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

A brown, bicultural generation is changing the face of New Zealand.

That’s according to the Minister for Pacific Peoples, ‘Aupito Sua William Sio, who has previously told RNZ Pacific that as many as two thirds of New Zealand born-Pasifika now had Māori whakapapa as well.

He says that although the Māori-Pasifika dynamic is not a new phenomenon, there is definitely a more apparent and visible presence now.

“You go back to the 1960s and 70s when New Zealanders invited the Pacific workforce to fill the booming manufacturing industry, the freezing works and the forestry and you trace where the people were in South Auckland, in the Waikato regions in Tokoroa, Rotorua and up north, and you will find people who descend from relationships during that workplace,” he says.

“Now that our communities have migrated to the regions, they are settled, they’ve got jobs and are really putting their roots in the ground. I’m seeing that more and more.

“And I’m trying to describe it as the Generation Six Bs – people who are brown, obviously, but they’re brainy, they’re beautiful and bicultural. They’re bilingual, and they’re bold.”

“They’re brainy, they’re beautiful and bicultural. They’re bilingual, and they’re bold.” – ‘Aupito William Sio

So how does this shape the minister’s approach to what the government does?

Collaborating at grassroots level
Since 2018,  ‘Aupito has wanted to formalise the so-called “tuakana-teina” relationship between Māori and Pacific people in an effort to collaborate more at grassroots level.

“I will have ongoing conversations with my Māori caucus colleagues, I think in the last three years in regional New Zealand, we were recognising this and so were my Māori ministers, and so interestingly enough when I said to the Minister of Provincial Growth Fund at the time, I was saying ‘are you seeing what I’m seeing with this diversity of young Pasifika who whakapapa to Māori?’

“He said, ‘yes I am starting to see these long names on the land register’, and even the Minister of Youth Affairs at the time was also acknowledging that he was capturing that diversity.”

‘Aupito said these conversations would continue to see how best Māori and Pasifika could work together.

However, he conceded data could often be unreliable when it came to Pasifika and Māori people, as those collecting the information often lumped them together.

Lourdes Vano is one person who refuses to be put into a single box.

Of Cook Island, Samoan and Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairoa stock, the university student and aspiring politician was on a journey of learning about all three cultures.

‘Learning my ancestry’
“It’s just learning all the different words, and also learning my ancestry, learning about my tupuna, and how they all fit together and where they all come from and what our family tree history is.”

Vano’s efforts were not just for her.

“I’m also doing this so that my siblings don’t have to make too much of a trip to find out about themselves, which is a really, really important sort of taonga, a gift that I want to pass on to them.

“I’ve always felt strongest when I know when I learn more about myself and I learn more about my tupuna and where I’ve come from, and I want to be able to give them that feeling as well.”

Vano says she doesn’t want her whānau to face as many barriers as she had.

“A lot of those barriers include what has happened in the process of colonisation where things have been cut off from us or gatekept from us where we have to pay money or we have to jump through a couple of loops to get to our own history.”

For Vano, straddling multiple cultures can be challenging.

‘Including my islands’
I have found myself in the past leaning into different parts of myself, depending on my environment, depending on where I am. But recently I’ve been trying to notice when I’m doing that. One of the ways that I’m trying to break out of that is including my islands in my pepeha and never refusing any part of myself.”

She points to Green MP Teanau Tuiono as inspiration. From Ngāpuhi and Atiu in the Cook Islands, he talked about his whakapapa during his maiden speech to Parliament in December.

People had asked if he was half Māori and half Pasifika.

“Nah, bro. If anything, I’m whole,” Tuiono said in the House.

“I don’t think anyone is half anything. If anything, I’m double. If I was a beer, I would be Double Brown. If I was the flavour down at the dairy, I’ll be twice as nice but the only half the price. I am two peas in the cultural pod.”

Vano says she has now grown to see the beauty of being both Tagata Pasifika and Tangata Whenua.

“I did struggle with it at first trying to figure out where I fit in but I think the more I learn about these things, the more beautiful it becomes to me and how lucky I am to be able to connect to so many different places and so many very cool places.

Many different communities
“I’m really glad that I am a part of so many different communities that work so well together and have always worked so well together and we were doing amazing things thousands of years ago.They were sailing the ocean hundreds of people at a time and hundreds and hundreds of miles away to get to an island,” Vano says.

Hine Funaki is of Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Whatua, Ngāi Tahu and Tongan heritage and is a doctoral student at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University.

She is also on a journey. One that began when she was a toddler at Kōhanga Reo and primary school where she learnt in a full immersion Māori environment.

However, things changed at high school.

“I just went straight into mainstream thinking that, you know, it wasn’t going to get you anywhere. I kind of bought into their narrative, better off learning Spanish or Mandarin or something else so that you can travel and make money and all this Pākehā or Western concept of success. So I started trying to follow that path and it wasn’t working for me.”

Funaki dropped out of high school at 16, with no qualification, thinking that was her lot in life. She then fell pregnant at 19 and had her son at 20. Her moment of clarity.

“I just knew that he couldn’t go down that same path that I went down, and believe those lies.”

Pivotal moment
So Funaki enrolled as an adult university student and reached another pivotal moment when meeting someone who would eventually become her mentor.

“In my third year of undergrad, I had Cherie Chu, she was in Pacific education and her courses were completely different to the two years that I was doing prior to that, I was with Pākehā lecturers all the time.

“The assignments I didn’t understand, I didn’t understand the literature. I just felt so unconfident and inadequate. And then in my third year, I finally met somebody who made the class inclusive, assessments inclusive and accessible. The literature, I understood it.”

Funaki continues to play it forward, mentoring young Māori and Pacific students as they try to navigate a world which has not always welcomed them.

“I can’t turn off the fact that I walk in these multiple different worlds. And so I carry that lens with me all the time and so I think of spaces all the time, physical spaces, relational spaces, theoretical spaces, and so if that space feels safe with certain people, then I feel like I can navigate it a bit more smoothly. Even if I’m still figuring it out. I can do it without feeling ashamed.

“Like I can mess up, and it’s okay, but if it’s in a space like predominantly Pākehā, Western, white spaces, if that whakamā is there, I won’t feel safe to even try and instead I just try and push back or I select spaces that I go to that I know I will feel more comfortable.”

But when Funaki and her colleagues addressed a workshop about how more professors could be Māori and Pasifika, she realised it was important to share stories for change.

Changing the dynamic
Funaki says it is about claiming spaces and changing the dynamic so that she comes from a perspective of pushing for change and not delivering trauma on a silver platter for others to consume.

Funaki keeps advocating for her people, driven by her heritage, both from the Pacific and Aotearoa.

“I can’t just be quiet and complacent. I can’t not say anything or call anything out when injustice is happening, like I feel the need to even more speak up because of my ancestors. When you know you have Pasifika descent in your family who migrated over for the idea of wanting better, or the land of milk and honey.

“You feel this obligation to give back and to do something with that sacrifice they have given. So having this Tongan inside of me and knowing that even though I’m not immersed fully in the Tongan culture, I still feel proud that that’s in my blood.”

Funaki says her Māori heritage and the struggles in institutions like universities, gave her even more motivation.

But still, it could be physically, mentally and spiritually tiring. Funaki said it was her pride in who she was that maintained her.

“That ancestral link, that blood that we have. What our people did to even get here. That’s not by chance or accident. That was navigation, that was intelligence. That’s science. Our people are smart and always have been, for generations. So I’m proud to be Māori and Tongan.”

Proud of his mixed heritage
Haereiti Hetet is someone else who is proud of his mixed heritage. The Fijian rugby international represented his mother’s whakapapa, from Ngāti Maniapoto and Ngāti Tuwharetoa, when he turned out for the Māori All Blacks in 2019, ironically against Fiji. He said being involved in that team made him want to learn more of the Māori language.

Although born and bred in Otorohanga, and surrounded mostly by his Māori whānau, Hetet said rugby had allowed greater access to both his cultures. When it came to his time with the Flying Fijians in 2020 and the Māori All Blacks the year before, both teams took time and made space to acknowledge their wairua, whether it be Fijian prayers and hymns sung multiple times during the day, or karakia and waiata with the Māori team.

“I’m probably still trying to really, fully connect. I want to understand both languages still, it’s still an ongoing journey,” Hetet says.

However, it was challenging trying to connect and learn two cultures and languages in the course of what has become a busy life.

“Throughout the day, you run out of time, you go to work, I’m still trying to train regularly to stay in good condition, just in case somebody comes up. I also have a small family as well, so it’s just finding a balance.”

Hetet says he is trying to find an hour, or a half an hour to keep his learning going. He hopes one day to get to his father’s [former Fijian international Joe Veitayaki] island of Matuku to take his cultural journey to the next level, but in the meantime he will continue to connect via his marae and community in Aotearoa.

And as Aotearoa marked another Waitangi Day, he believes it is a good opportunity for Māori to have their voice heard as they continue to fight for land and rights as tangata whenua.

Waitangi Day unsettling
But for Hine Funaki – Waitangi Day is unsettling.

“To me it’s like this constant reminder of, let’s pretend we have this romanticised lens of a bicultural partnership and then let’s even claim multiculturalism, because we are a multi-ethnic nation and it’s like this time to celebrate and put on these pretty window dressings for another year.”

But Funaki says it is lies.

“Where’s the part where you acknowledge your treaty roles, where’s the part where partnership actually means something and doing something together as equals? That doesn’t mean junior partnerships,” she says.

Lourdes Vano understands that hurt. For her, the day is an opportunity for education and information.

“If you don’t know what to do on Waitangi Day and you’re scared of contributing to something that you don’t know completely about, use it as a day for education. Ranginui Walker’s Struggle Without End is a really good starter book about Māori history and New Zealand/Aotearoa and really sets the scene and gives so much context for Waitangi Day.”

Vano says people could also use it as a day to find out how they could support tangata whenua.

They sound like words from this growing Generation B – so named by ‘Aupito William Sio – Brown, Brainy, Beautiful, Bicultural, Bilingual and Bold.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

By Māni Dunlop in Waitangi

More than 2500 people gathered this morning at Waitangi to commemorate the 180th anniversary of the New Zealand founding Treaty.

People started flooding into the grounds from about 4.30am.

Among those offering their prayers were Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Police Commissioner Mike Bush, Race Relations Commissioner Meng Foon, Waitangi National Trust Chairperson Pita Tipene and chairperson of the Rūnanga a Iwi o Ngāpuhi, Mere Mangu.

READ MORE: Follow RNZ’s live blog

Kindness and unity seemed to be the main message conveyed at this year’s dawn ceremony.

The prime minister spoke of the bridge between two people: “On this 180th Waitangi Day let us pledge to take a step across the bridge between our peoples, give us the perseverance in our daily lives to commit to a simple action that helps take us to the other side, and in doing so give us the courage to walk comfortably in each other’s shoes.”

Jacinda Ardern also called to unite in kindness and care towards one another and concluded her prayer with the last verse of the national anthem.

Tribute to mana wāhine
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson wrote her own karakia in te reo which spoke of the importance to respect and look after our whenua, our mokopuna and paid tribute to the power of mana wāhine.

Act Party leader David Seymour used the opportunity to say: “There is nothing like Waitangi, it’s part ceremony, part conversation, sometimes a bit of conflict, sometimes rambunctious and petulant but you have to forgive the politicians.”

“What it tells us is that we are on a unique journey as a nation, two peoples from exact opposite sides of the world working through our problems to a better tomorrow,” he said.

“On behalf of the police, I want to acknowledge and thank iwi and iwi leaders for the strong and effective partnership which enables us to honour our commitment to Māori and the Treaty and to honour our purpose of keeping this beautiful nation safe.”

Waitangi National Trust chair Pita Tipene spoke at the end and shared some pūrākau about the area in which the Treaty Grounds are – ruarangi – and spoke of the ancestress, Maikuku, the ancestress of mana whenua, Ngāti Rahiri and Ngāti Kawa.

He made his observation of how the country is changing and referenced the Treaty Negotiations Minister Andrew Little’s whaikōrero on the paepae on Tuesday – making a light-hearted reference to the challenges faced with Ngāpuhi treaty negotiations.

‘People using more Māori’
“People are starting to use more Māori in our public occasions and I thought it was absolutely fantastic that Andrew Little spoke in te reo Māori – it goes a long way to touching the hearts of the people, especially the hearts of the people that Andrew is working with.”

Tipene reminded everyone of He Whakaputanga, otherwise known as the Declaration of Independence, which hapū of Ngāpuhi recognise as the senior to Te Tiriti.

“They go hand in hand – it is the senior and the Treaty is the junior and it enhances the Whakaputanga and that is what the hapū o Ngāpuhi have always known that authority has never been ceded and what we here believe at the national trust is to encourage the discourse about our nationhood.

“What I really appreciate about Little is that he has also provided encouraging words that the hapū o Ngāpuhi and the government will have conversations about Whakaputanga.”

Tipene then asked last minute, for the chair of Te Rūnanga a Iwi o Ngāpuhi, Mere Mangu, to be the last speaker.

Following the dawn ceremony – many lined up to get breakfast served by the prime minister and other ministers.

This article is republished under the Pacific Media Centre’s content partnership with Radio New Zealand.