|
Friend -- Tēnā tātau Tīhei Mouri Ora! Nā Te Paki o Matariki te motu i whakahuihui ki runga o Tūrangawaewae kia tangihia e tātau katoa ngā mate o te te motu me te tangi tonu ki a Pita Paraone, ki a Tahu Pōtiki me ngā mate huhua o te wā. Haere atu koutou ki te pō, a ko tātau tēnei e takatū nei ki te ao tū roa nei, tēnā tātau! Tēnā hoki tātau me ngā kaupapa maha o te motu. Ko Ihumātao tēnā, ko te Hīkoi mō ngā Tamariki tēnā, ko Oranga Tamariki tēnā tatū atu ki tō tātau Wānanga i Rotorua. Kua pokea, kua puku mahi me te hari koa kua hoki anō tātau ki ngā tatauranga a Comar-Brunton kia ea ai te kī, tīhei mouri ora!
E aha ana tātau – What’s been happening? We’ve been busy since our last pānui and it’s great to have the Party reported in the media in a positive note almost every week since Ihumātao and the Oranga Tamariki debacle. Firstly, I’d like to thank our members for your continued commitment to the Party and the work that is done around the country to respond to various kaupapa at a national and regional level as well as with your whānau. This is evident in the response to the Hands Off Our Tamariki hīkoi in Wellington and the protests outside Oranga Tamariki Offices around the country. In addition, the turn out in Rotorua to wānanga our campaign for next year was great and the strategizing and discussions all led to a positive space to get us excited and preparing for the 2020 campaign. Dame Tariana has also been very active in the Oranga Tamariki space with Dame Naida and others and they are helping promote our Party through their presence and leadership in the Māori led review. Dame Naida is also chairing the review and they hope to have completed the review early in the new year. It’s also exciting to see so many Māori standing in the upcoming local government elections and we wish our Co-Vice President Tāne, Rangi McLean and the National Treasurer, Elijah Pue the best in the Ruapehu District Council elections. It’s also worth noting that a strategic way to vote in the local government elections, the Single Transferable Vote (STV) system, is to limit the number of ticks and in most cases, it’s best to only do one tick for your main person you wish to vote for. Also, next month is our Annual General Meeting so more on the AGM below.
Nō reira, pānuitia mai ngā kōrero e whai ake nei…
Hands Off Our Tamariki We had a great turn out in Wellington with whānau from Auckland, Hamilton, Rotorua, Taranaki, Whanganui, Palmerston North and Te Waipounamu wearing our Party kākahu and carrying our banners to support the Hands off our Tamariki kaupapa in Wellington last month. It was evident that our people have had enough and though people continue to challenge and say, why now, it’s simple, our people have been pushed too far and enough is enough. Some media commented on the anger they witnessed at the hīkoi and I responded quickly, noting that their commentary was misleading because it wasn’t anger but pain and intergenerational hurt that may appear as anger. I’ve highlighted this because if we don’t correct it early, it’s easy for people to then provide a misinformed perspective of our reality and this must stop. Dame Tariana again reminded our people of the need to hold every government to account and I was asked to close the hīkoi off with karakia and got to also provide a challenge to the government.
Some of our Waiariki whānau at the hīkoi
Annual General Meeting Notice – 12 October 2019 Our Annual General Meeting this year is being hosted by Te Tai Hauāuru in Whanganui and the details are:
The agenda for the AGM is as follows:
For more information, contact our General Secretary, Matariki Cribb-Fox on [email protected]
Wānanga and National Council Meeting Photo of Elijah presenting at our
National Council hui We had a great turn out at the Wānanga and National Council meeting in Rotorua last month where we got to share the 2020 Campaign Strategy and to wānanga a whole range of topics to identify how members can help the team to gear up for the election. By the end of the first night, we had offers of help and by the end of Saturday our members were excited and all ready to go around their electorates to start getting the various branches up and working again after a good rest since the last election. We have the policy and communications teams continuing to progress things and Waiariki and Te Tai Hauāuru have initiated their candidate selection processes. By starting early, it will help people to galvanise around whoever is selected and then allow us, the Executive, to move back to the background and help ensure the Party continues to progress our policies and strengthen our electorates over the next five elections.
Ihumātao The same weekend of the Wānanga, some of the Tāmaki whānau and I left our hui in Rotorua to support the King and his ope to visit Ihumātao and Kaapua was left to lead our Wānanga and Council meeting. It was a sombre pōwhiri as both sides shared their joint history of oppression afflicted upon them, and though the hau kāinga were buoyed by the Kings visit, the situation they are in is the result of the Crown deliberately trying to destroy our existence. What I do want to focus in on is, how will Ihumātao affect our
tribal structures going forward? As the Chair of my iwi, I hope we as
iwi and all board governors wake up to the It is also worth reading the post of another Rangatahi, who gave his perspective about the Police issue at Ihumātao as they tried to kettle our people and provoke violence. Thanks Whatanui for allowing us to share your thoughts.
Challenge to the Prime Minister Last month at the Koroneihana, I was invited, with my iwi hat, to welcome the government on to Tūrangawaewae, a role I have done a number of times. This was also an opportunity to ask the Prime Minister to front up on Māori issues and hold her to account as she asked us to at Waitangi this year. Prior to the pōwhiri for the government, I was in Māhinārangi and I was reminded of our tikanga, no matter who they are, they are manuhiri and also mindful that Tūrangawaewae is Minister Mahuta’s kāinga. I was also aware that whatever I said, it would be tested by you, by our people, the nation and of course my whānau. Man, did I dig deep! I hope I did you proud as members and you can check it out for yourself if you haven’t seen the speech already. It's set up to play from the start of my speech - https://youtu.be/kOWWoxIwZF8?t=794
Kāti ake, We look forward to seeing you all at Whangaehu next month.
Ngā manaakitanga o te wā. Nāku iti, nā Che Wilson
Authorised by Matariki Cribb-Fox, 21a Bell Street, Whanganui
|
||
|
|
||
Dame Tariana and Debbie
Ngarewa-Packer at Ihumātao - Source: D Ngarewa-Packer
fact that Ihumātao represents a
generation that is challenging our decisions and I welcome the
challenge. For me, its not about protecting the 28 years of
negotiating our settlement, its more the fact that if the next
generation can put enough pressure on the Crown and private sector to
recognise the true loss, I say bring it on. It’s a good thing for our
people and leadership, it takes courage so I acknowledge and celebrate
the courage coming from Ihumātao.
President at Tūrangawaewae at this
years Koroneihana - Source: Kīngitanga.