,
Te Tiriti o Waitangi is a promise – that this country would be built together, moving forward not by erasing our differences, but by recognising them.
Not by denying our history, but by learning from it.
That promise has not always been kept. And every year, we must commit to doing better.
The road ahead is never easy. It demands hard conversations. Honest reflection. The courage to sit with uncomfortable truths.
We have made progress. Yet, 186 years after the Treaty of Waitangi was signed, that progress is under threat.
We face a Government that has chosen division. One that has claimed that honouring our commitments means someone else must lose.
That will never be true.
Every year, Waitangi Day reminds us that when we honour Te Tiriti, we don't weaken New Zealand, we make it stronger.
We build schools where children learn the full story of the country we share. We shape an economy that works for everyone. We make decisions not for the next election, but for the next generation.
This is the New Zealand we can be.
I believe we can build a country that lives up to its founding promise, if we choose to do it together.
Let’s not just remember the promise made 186 years ago. Let’s be the generation that keeps it.
You have my word that a government I lead will do exactly that.
Ngā mihi,
Chris
