Hikoi against controversial Act Party ‘Treaty Principles Bill’ galvanise Maori and a wide cross section of Aotearoa including itsPasifika people
As the Hikoi mo te Tiriti wound its way through the streets of the capital to the steps of parliament, there was a palpable sense of ‘history-in-the-making’.
“This is like one of those once-in-a lifetime experiences that you can actually feel, like in the air, the atmosphere,” said one young Maori man
Another, a Maori elder, was more succinct.
“To safeguard, to honour, to protect te Tiriti o Waitangi.”
Among the ‘Tangata Tiriti’, non-Maori who support the Kaupapa, was this man who explained his presence.
“To support the whanau Maori and to make a statement that Te Tiriti is a covenant that we’ve made between the people for all time.”
The Hikoi to Parliament was the culmination of a nine-day protest which started at Cape Reinga – Te Rerenga Wairua – and gathered momentum as it travelled down the country.
A smaller group did the same from the bottom of the South Island.
When the Hikoi arrived in Auckland, the marchers crossed the iconic harbour bridge before heading along Tamaki Drive to Takaparawhau – bastion point, the site of Maori land protests in the past.
As befitting the region with the largest Pasifika population in the country, there was a healthy turnout of ‘Tangata o te Moana’, including Tongan community leader Pakilau Manase Lua.
“What Maori go through, we go through, like in the dawn raids. You know, this is their land. It’s the least we can do as people of the moana to support our cousins. They’re our Tuakana here on their land.”
“We owe it to our Tangata Whenua to support this because not only are we part of the solution, we’ve been part of the problem as well,” says Hikoi supporter Teokotai Paitai.
“I’m Tangata Whenua and Tagata Moana and just picking up on what Ta’i’s just said, as Tagata Moana, Tuakana-Teina… it’s really important that we bond together, that we not let this government divide us,” added supporter Teresa Brown.
“We want the opposite of what David Seymour, Christopher Luxon and that government are doing, with the opposite of division, the opposite of soundbites to divide our people and to pick and choose the issues. And we want to make sure that this sense of protest carries on through generations.”
Following the Hikoi from the start was Green MP Teanau Tuiono who also shares Maori and Pasifika heritage. He says the Treaty Principles Bill is simply divisive.
“Parliament’s not an easy place to be at the best of times, but particularly with this type of legislation, which is disrupting the fabric of Aotearoa,” he says.
“Governments come and go but Te Tiriti o Waitangi, that’s foundational to this country and that’s why it’s important for us to tautoko.”
Just a day after the Hikoi passed through Auckland, the Treaty Principles Bill was introduced into the house for its first reading amid a typically fiery debate. Predictably it was passed but not before a resounding haka from the youngest MP in the house, Te Pati Maori’s Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke.
Long-time Ngati Whatua Orakei activist Sharon Hawke says the bill is an attempt to re-write history.
“They want to rewrite the contract, an arrangement that they have with Maori and they’re going about it the wrong way. These types of activations are not to make a noise, they are to deliver a message of discontent.”
The Bill passed thanks to a promise by the Prime Minister to his coalition partner to support the Bill to its first reading, announcing that it would not get the National Party’s support after that.
But the Bill’s passage through the select committee process will take six months, plenty of time, critics say, for the kind of divisive debate and rhetoric that can further rip apart the social fabric of the nation.
“It is not something that we should be meddling with,” says MP Tuiono.
“We should not be putting it up for debate in this way. And it’s a very direct challenge to this government, to this Prime Minister, to actually show some leadership.”
