Govt could undergo Waitangi Day ‘tours’

It may be years before Prime Minister Bill English returns to Waitangi on New Zealand’s national day after backing the idea of taking the commemorations on tour.

English is in Waitangi at the annual Iwi Chairs Forum held yesterday ahead of Waitangi Day but he turned down an invite to spend the national day there after he was told he could not speak at the powhiri.

Instead English will attend events in Auckland and he says the idea of the Government travelling to different locations each year was ‘‘worth investigating’’.

‘‘I think if the Government said it was going to move around on Waitangi Day, I don’t think there would be any shortage of interest from iwi – they’d be falling over themselves to provide that opportunity for their local communities.

‘‘I think it’s worth investigating because the Treaty was signed in quite a number of places and I suppose the benefit of it would be New Zealanders who don’t live in the Far North would see a bit more of the relevance to their local area,’’ he said.

The message from Waitangi trustees to English saying he could not speak at Te Tii Marae, where political talks are held on February 5 each year, was mentioned at the forum yesterday.

‘‘I said to the meeting that we regarded Waitangi as an important place and that’s why we’re here with a dozen ministers.’’

''It would be great for the Government to come back at some stage.'' Prime Minister Bill English

English said Ngapuhi elder Titewhai Harawira, who traditionally escorts the prime minister on to Te Tii, had spoken to him and indicated there had been several meetings in recent weeks to ‘‘try and work out what’s going to work at Waitangi’’.

‘‘This is a special place and it would be great for the Government to come back at some stage, whoever the Government is after the election,’’ English said.

Chair of Waikato-tainui Rahui Papa told media that ‘‘sometimes it’s really important for the prime minister to be here’’ but it was not critical.

‘‘When the prime minister doesn’t come, as former prime ministers have refused to come, the show still goes on.’’

Meanwhile, moves by the secretary of Waitangi’s Te Tii Marae to sell for $10,000 ‘‘exclusive broadcasting rights’’ to coverage of events there during New Zealand’s national day angered senior figures at Waitangi.

TVNZ and competitor Newshub both refused to pay for exclusive rights.

Marae chairman Ngati Kawa’s Aramiha Taituha said the offer was made to Newshub first.

‘‘It was just the first media person we could come up with. We had a list of all of them but we couldn’t be bothered going through the whole list.’’

Waitangi National Trust Board chairman Pita Paraone, a NZ First MP, said: ‘‘It’s bloody ridiculous and I’m ashamed to be a descendent of Ngapuhi’’.

He urged media organisations not to pay the money sought. If they wanted to give a koha that was fine.

‘‘It’s greed and a lack of nous in terms of creating an amicable atmosphere between them and the rest of the community, not just the media.’’

He said it had made Ngapuhi ‘‘the laughing stock of the iwi community’’.

Nothing could be done this year, because the damage had been done even if Te Tii – also known as the lower marae – retracted the condition. – Fairfax NZ