Poroporoaki for Anzac Pikia

I hinga te totara nui i Te Wao-Nui a Tāne. E te rangatira o te ao pāpāho, okioki atu rā ki ō tātou tīpuna.

E te taonga a te mate, takahia atu rā te ara whānui a tane, whakangaro atu rā ki te pō e, moe mai rā.

The Māori Party is deeply saddened at the loss of Anzac Pikia, a beautiful young man who strengthened the voice of Māori broadcasting through two decades as a reporter, producer, journalist and presenter on Te Karere and Te Kāea.

“The Anzac legacy was manifest not just in his name but the strength, the passion and the fighting spirit that he brought to the revitalization of te reo,” says Māori Party Co-leader Te Ururoa Flavell.

“He fully expressed the meaning behind the theme of Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori Maori – Whangaihia te reo Māori ki ngā Mātua. He was utterly committed to helping pass on the beauty and the potential of the Māori language to the generations to come, and for that we will be forever indebted.

“As a nation, we have benefitted from the story-telling, the poetry, the sentiment behind the ‘news’ that Anzac brought to the screen” says Māori Party Co-leader Marama Fox.

“He was an avid kapa haka fan, a Tainui devotee and a fabulous friend to many,” says Mrs Fox.

Our love and sympathies are with his friends and his whānau from Waikato, Ngāti Hikairo ki Kāwhia, Ngati Maniapoto and Ngāpuhi as they gather to farewell him at Pārāwera Marae in Te Awamutu.

ENDS

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