"Waitangi Day should become New Zealand Day", says Maori leader 
 

Chairman of the Hone Heke Foundation, David Rankin, has announced that he intends to petition Parliament to have the New Zealand Day re-installed on 6 February from next year.  Rankin, whose ancestor Hone Heke was the first chief to sign the Treaty, says that Waitangi Day is now inappropriate and outdated. 

"First, it reminds most New Zealanders of protests and confrontation, which is not what our national day should be about", says Mr Rankin, "And then there is the fact that ninety percent of the chiefs who signed the Treaty did so in places other than at Waitangi.  So to keep pushing the name of Waitangi on all the other hapu and iwi is a bit arrogant". 

Mr. Rankin is especially concerned about the negative coverage that Waitangi Day has received in the last few decades. "Most people are sick and tired of hearing about Waitangi Day because of all the disturbances that have come with it", he says. "The Harawiras and the Mike Smiths of this world have ruined the name, so we need to start healing that.  And for Maori, how we start the healing process is to take the name and keep it protected for a while". 

Mr Rankin plans on completing the collection of signatures for his petition by August. 

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