Te Tai Tokerau wahine stand with their backs as Tama Potaka speaks. Photo: RNZ/Cole Eastham-Farrelly
Shane Jones has made a somewhat veiled threat to Ngāpuhi over the handling of today's political pōwhiri at the Treaty Grounds.
The event typically welcomes politicians ahead of Waitangi Day itself, but with the government's Treaty Principles Bill and other legislation stirring anti-government sentiment among many Māori, the 2024 edition included some disruption.
Kaiwero performing haka to welcome politicians to the marae were heard shouting during their challenge, and a large group of wāhine from Te Tai Tokerau stood and turned their backs to National and ACT ministers delivering speeches.
David Seymour's microphone was also removed, then replaced, then removed and replaced again during his speech - interrupting his kōrero and making it inaudible to those further away.
Senior NZ First Minister Shane Jones said the pōwhiri had become a circus and was no longer fit for purpose.
"The pōwhiri is no longer a welcome ceremony, it's an opportunity to tally up the list of woes and grievances - and in a democracy no-one can stop that from happening, but it should not be the dominant feature of a Māori welcome ceremony.
"The young men doing the wero, they're highly passionate and I know many of them - I know their whānau really well - but there's an unhelpful virus that's crept into a lot of our Māori welcome ceremonies and they're starting to bark and they're starting to yell during the wero.
"Be careful what the response is, because when I grew up, when the welcome ceremony was conducted and you had the challenge we always brought two or three runners with us and those runners chased the person doing the wero, and if they could catch them they rubbed their head in horse shit. Sadly I didn't bring a bag of horse shit with me today."
He said there was "something seriously awry about the architecture of the day", which he blamed on the current trustees and said he would be taking the matter to New Zealand First's caucus.
"Look, I understand it's theatre but let's be honest with each other, the Tai Tokerau's not that weak that it can't tolerate a speech ... full of things that were obviously designed to rile the crowd, but switching the microphone off in all honesty is not going to switch the voice off."
Shane Jones speaks to media at Waitangi. Photo: RNZ/Samuel Rillstone
He and Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka allocated in November $10.2 million from the Regional Infrastructure Fund for the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, and a further $7.1m for Māori economic development projects in Northland and Taranaki.
Jones criticised the approach taken by the hosts given that spending.
"Obviously this is an independent body but I just gave them $10m, so if you want to take the money you take the responsibility of looking after your manuhiri.
"There's an expectation that when the manuhiri come to an area like this, they're not going to come back if they're mistreated.
"I'll be very specific here, the Waitangi Trust have received $10m from our government to address infrastructure ... obviously the money's already been allocated but if they don't buck their ideas up, don't look to central government to fund an organisation that's independent and can't raise enough revenue to look after itself.
"I've certainly lost my zest in pushing future grants forward unless they buck their ideas up and look after their manuhiri."
However, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith and Potaka said funding for Māori organisations was not contingent on them toeing the line.
"No, we're absolutely focused on getting this economy back on track," Potaka said.
"Shane has his own interpretations and views and I'm certainly not going to try and get into the brain of Shane Jones.
"We're very committed to supporting institutions like Waitangi, like Rātana, like Parihaka ... we're really focused on supporting efforts throughout the country through the regional infrastructure fund and other things that we think will help the economy get moving."
Goldsmith agreed.
Tama Potaka speaks to media at Waitangi. Photo: RNZ/Samuel Rillstone
"As a government we continue to engage right across the board, and we expect robust discussions and we expect differences of views, but we don't stand back and accept the idea that somehow this is a government that is in any way negative towards Māori.
"We don't stop funding people because they disagree with us, that's not how it works, Shane can explain his sentiments and I quite understand, it's always an emotional experience up here.
"It's a unique blend coming to Waitangi of confrontation and also an exchange of views, and then the extraordinary harmony of the singing and the coming together at the end in peace."
Seymour said he had his own microphone for a recording of his speech, and he did not agree with people who thought it was okay to intimidate people out of freely communicating their ideas.
"Some people can turn their back, but they can't turn their back on the very real challenges that we face giving every kid in this country equal rights and equal opportunity."
His speech attacked his critics, saying they were claiming he wanted to take away Māori mana, reo and culture, but that was "poison being poured into the ears of young people".
He said that was a line from Shakespeare's Hamlet "about putting mistruths in people's minds and I believe that's what people have done about my bill".
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson said Jones' comments were unacceptable and designed to stir things up.
"What an absolute abuse of power and privilege. What an absolute whack in the face for democracy," she said.
"Showing his true colours, if anything. This place, that manaakis the 10s and 10s of thousands of people every year, actually needs more funding and more support to be able to do this mahi because it's here for everyone, it's here for the nation."
Labour leader Chris Hipkins said Jones' approach was an abuse of power and accused him of blackmail, saying he thought it was "utterly inappropriate".
"I think this government are trying to create a culture of fear where people are afraid to speak out against the government because they're worried that they're going to get that kind of knee-jerk response where their funding's going to be cut, and they're basically going to be punished for having a different view."
He said Seymour's speech had set out to be deliberately inflammatory.
"I think he got a response that was proportionate to that. He came here to provoke a reaction, and he got a reaction. It's not the sort of thing I think responsible leaders do, he set out right from the beginning of his speech to be inflammatory and he was."
He said protest was legitimate, and he could understand where the anger was coming from.
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