Maori Party Hui a Tau 2010 : Preparing for Survival

Hon Tariana Turia; Co-leader of the Maori Party

Omahu Marae, Hastings

Saturday 30 October 2010

The korero last night, demonstrated that as a movement, we are at a vital turning point in our journey.

Frequent reference was made of the wisdom inherent in the words of Dr Whakaari Rangitakuku Mete Kingi. As one of our leaders of Whanganui, we have always known of his influence in establishing a secure base for Morikaunui – the second oldest Maori incorporation in Aotearoa.

Thirty years ago he challenged the New Zealand Planning Council with these words:

Ko te pae tawhiti whaia kia tata
Te pae tata whakamaua kia tina.

What do those words mean for us now, at the 2010 AGM?

The message from last night was unequivocal – we must pursue the distant horizons in order that we bring it close; and we must secure the near horizons so that it becomes reality. It is not an either/or situation.

Without a vision the people will perish. Without a plan, aspirations evaporate; and dreams disappear.

It is time to be both pragmatic and visionary; to develop sustainable action plans; and to commit to the ownership and the investment we will require in order to achieve greatness.

The greatness I talk about is that which our new President, Pem Bird, brought to our sights last night – if we truly believe our mokopuna are taonga what are we doing to secure their survival?

And I want to share how uplifting it was to walk on to this marae yesterday and to see so many rangatahi coming on with us – it was such a great boost to the heart.

When we think of their future – and our survival as people – we can never under-estimate the legacy of our foundation president, Professor Whatarangi Winiata.

I mihi to the incredible leadership, the breadth of vision, the enduring wisdom of Matua. Right the very first hui we held at Raukawa in 2004, he has demonstrated his life long ambition to plan to enhance our survival has a people.

It is a testimony to his utter devotion to that aim, that at his very last hui as President, he remained staunch to the kaupapa.

In his paper he reminded us to continue to cherish the expression of our rangatiratanga; as evident in the maintenance of our 1300 operating marae.

And he challenged us to stay true to our ropu tuku iho, our whanau, hapu and iwi as distinctive to us – their growth and prosperity essential to our survival as a people.

I learnt recently that when we were crafting our constitution, that there was some discussion around pukengatanga – providing the environment to share and nurture traditional skills and knowledge.

In honour of the lifelong contribution that Matua has made to the survival and growth of tangata whenua I would like us to consider reviewing our constitution to add pukengatanga to our kaupapa – to encourage us to lift our sights higher, to cherish the values and practices that have been handed down to us.

And while I’m at it – I think it is the right time to consider the way in which we restore our faith in ourselves – Pem challenged us to think of the meaning of whirinakitanga – the value of trust.

In order to have a following, you have to have people who believe in you – who show in their everyday lives that living the kaupapa is not just about taking the constitution off the shelves and dusting it off at every AGM. It is about walking the talk, it’s about living the dream.

I talked last night how as Morehu, as followers of the Maramatanga, we cherish our faith; we encourage each other to remain true to the vision of our tupuna rangatira.

This year we celebrated one hundred years since the prophecies of Mere Rikiriki of Ngati Apa, Parewanui Pa. Mere Rikiriki had a saying, ‘E ringa kaha, e ringa poto, kaore e whakahoa.’

In this she inspired us to be true to ourselves, to be self-controlled without friend or favour. It was a message about humility; the challenge of manaakitanga; the creation of trust.

And so I say to ourselves, are we ready?

Are we ready for 2011, committed to take on Hauraki-Waikato, and Ikaroa Rawhiti and build our base onwards, in securing the seven Maori seats?

Are we ready to move past personalities, to focus on the wawata, the foundations, that unite us?

Are we ready to invest in the kaupapa as having meaning in our daily lives; to demonstrate compassion, forgiveness, aroha, humility, trust?

Are we ready to build bridges, to restore the sense of kotahitanga that is vital to our survival?

Are we ready to trust in ourselves?

And while these questions are just as relevant for the health and strength of our party, they must always remain central to our vision for the survival of a people.

The last year has been damaging to our party – and we must take ownership of the part that we played in actions or words which destabilised our membership.

We must focus on what is in our collective interests; what will unite us – and stop spending all our energy on what divides us.

All of us are tired of reading headlines which cast us – the Maori Party – in a negative light. And we can not blame the media for that – we provide them with the footage which exposes all our vulnerabilities and sets up conflict within the agenda. We cannot continue down that track – it saps our spirits; it drags us down and it makes us rangirua.

We are at a turning point where we must ask ourselves the hard questions – are we committed to the collective good? Are our people driving us forward? How can we demonstrate our connections to those who have given us their vote, and who have placed their trust in the Maori Party?

I was looking at some of the challenges sent in to us about the top priorities in terms of our policy direction for 2011 – and it was really interesting. We asked all of our MPs to go out into their electorates, and these were some of the things they came back with:

The protection of taonga, te reo, marae, Te Tiriti o Waitangi;

Economic sustainability;

Eliminating violence against children and whanau;

The growing gap between the haves and have-nots and that includes within our own families;

Get Maori out of the negative statistics;

Whanau ora –as something really positive, as growing whanau resilience, and wellbeing;

We have the longest litigation in the history of this country of awa. You wait for the water debate – that will be the hottest debate in the history of this land.

We have to ask why Maori are not on the Maori roll? There are literally thousands of our people on the general roll – and we must get out and do something about that, you and I, do it whanau by whanau. We have to stop talking about things and do it. If you think about how many we lost those two seats by, it was minimal. We have to be vigilant, to work hard.

They talked about health delivery in small rural communities – and as Associate Minister, I have to say it’s a constant worry

Apprenticeships for young Maori - and Pita has done really well in this regard

One of the biggest issues in my electorate is the whangai of Maori children – and that whakapapa is left out of the discussion. We need to be vigilant in looking out for our children.

There are so many issues we must continue to take up. Many of these ideas align with priorities we set ourselves in our manifesto, He aha te mea nui. Every political party has a manifesto – I want you to go and read it. We have seen progress in many of these areas – but there is so much more yet to do.

I want us to have time to celebrate all we have done – to be proud of the work that Hone has done in advancing the tobacco inquiry; to promote the fact that Rahui Katene has placed the celebration of Matariki – and the removal of GST off food on everyone’s agenda. We must remind ourselves that Te Ururoa initiated the conversation around the return of Maori land; that he was instrumental in the work that led to simultaneous interpretation of te reo in the House.

Pita has established a Maori Youth Council to lead our debates ongoing into the future; his Maori Economic Taskforce championed the relationship with China, and of course we are all awaiting the outcomes of the review into te reo.

And the work we have done in increasing tobacco tax; the Relationship Agreement with the Community and Voluntary Sector; in an additional $8m for bariatric surgery; in the disabilities sector – we have achieved a Human Rights Commissioner, an Ombudsman – these are not small things, we have done that, and we should be proud of that.

I know there have been questions asked about our respect for the iwi leadership – and I will defend that relationship with every breath I take. It is not for us to question their mandate – that is the responsibility of the whanau and hapu who place their faith in the leaders that come from within their collective whakapapa.

I am so proud that in our coalition arrangement, because we have been able to open the door, to ensure the voices of whanau, hapu and iwi for the first time are being heard at the tables of power. We have had little hapu at the Minister’s door. I think it is one of our greatest achievements – getting people through the corridors of power.

It is one of our greatest achievements – and I think that the influence that iwi have had has been really positive.

Yesterday was a pivotal day for our party with the announcement of the 25 provider collectives who have been selected to advance Whanau Ora. Whanau Ora comes from us; it is the pae tata and the pae tawhiti; it is our recipe for survival.

We have so much to believe in – and believe in ourselves we must.

This is a turning point; a turning moment in our history.

Let’s be brave in facing it together, to be self-controlled without friend or favour; to make the commitment for our mokopuna and for those to come.

And finally most of all I want to thank our amazing movement – all of you who are here today, and those who quite frankly couldn’t afford to come.

Thank you to the National Council delegates; our broadest membership, those who keep us grounded; who challenge us; who inspire us; who believe in us. We must continue to honour you – you who have staked your future alongside of ours.

We are so lucky to have the expertise and commitment of Parehuia Aratema. I wish sometimes we could be a bit more honourable in respecting the advice she brings to our Council, and do as she says.

I want to thank our new national secretary, Natasha Kendall, for picking up the challenges of such a significant role and we do want to thank you.

We are so much richer – in terms of real money in the bank as well as through the warmth of a wonderful night – through the efforts of Makoha Gardiner – our fundraiser extraordinaire. It’s a shame she got a job and can’t do this for anymore!

And I want to particularly thank Heta Hingston for his unstinting belief and support of this party, and for Te Orohi Paul for her strategic focus and her energy.

Let us grab our future with passion; taking every opportunity up to show the faith we place in our whanau; the investment we are making to uphold the kaupapa and tikanga that will be forever in our lives.

I just want to say that I am really pleased, Pem (Bird) that you have taken the helm. You have played such a huge role in sharping our kaupapa.

I also want to mihi to Pete (Sharples) – he is the nicest person in Parliament. He is forever respectful. I believe Pita has played a really major role in engaging the National Party in moving into the future. Thank you for your leadership, for the way in which you have honoured us as a movement.

To the handsome one – as a team we are an amazing team. Whether we are arguing with each other, each of us brings something different to the movement.

I know everyone thinks we have a strategy to get Hone to say mean things about the others, and about ourselves as well but I can assure you it is not the case!

The one thing about our political movement, is we go from one end of the spectrum to the other – the challenge is to meet all points of view from one country to the other – and I’m sure we can.

Let us walk together, to ensure our survival, in every aspect of the word.

ENDS

© Scoop Media