Labour back to Ratana — but in the driver’s seat
Ardern first in a line of party leaders to arrive at historic pa as Government head Close encounter of furred kind at zoo
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will be the fifth Labour leader to present herself at Ratana Pa in nine years — but she can expect to be feted as the first of them to make it to Prime Minister.
Ardern and a cavalcade of Labour MPs and ministers will make the triumphant return to Ratana today — this time in Government rather than Opposition.
Ardern will be welcomed at Ratana Pa with coalition partners NZ First and the Green Party before National leader Bill English and his MPs are welcomed later in the day. The Maori Party arrived yesterday.
The Ratana Church has historic links to the Labour Party after its founding prophet Tahupotiki Wiremu Ratana formed an alliance with former PM Michael Joseph Savage in 1936.
That alliance has been tested by parties such as the Maori Party, but has stood the test of time.
Ardern said she would acknowledge that relationship. Asked if she believed there would be expectations from the Ratana movement now Labour was back in government, she said she would welcome that.
“Expectations are what keep driving you harder.”
The Church marks its centennial this year and she said that would be acknowledged.
National leader Bill English said he expected a warm, respectful welcome, as he had in the past.
“But I think the tone will be different. They’ll clearly be engaging with the new Government. It’s an interesting time for them because the Government would probably expect they’d have a lot of support from those attending Ratana.”
His message to the Ratana faithful would be that they had made gains in the past nine years.
“What Maori have to watch out for is the urge of Labour to control Maori institutions. Labour have never been happy with the degree of independence or rangatiratanga that iwi have shown.”
English stood by his comments of last week that the Government could not “save” the Maori language, saying it was “stating the obvious”.
He said the Government did have some responsibility for the language and exercised that through measures such as Maori language broadcasting.
“The Government has carried out its responsibilities but in the long run it is dependent on families and communities speaking it. That is the home of the language, around the table, in the lounge.
“I’m a bit more optimistic than some. I’ve met so many young Maori who are fluent, bicultural, bilingual. I think te reo will survive.”
In 2002 English was the first National leader to make the pilgrimage to the Labour stronghold. Watch the video at nzherald.co.nz
What Maori have to watch out for is the urge of Labour to control Maori institutions.
Love is in the air — almost. Wellington Zoo’s keepers are hoping that will become more definite though as they carry out the “complex” process to introduce and breed their critically endangered Sumatran tigers.
Zoo staff are already seeing positive signs as they gradually introduce the tigers, 10-year-old male Bashii and 7-year-old female Senja, animal care manager Jo Richardson said.
“This is quite an exciting time for us for many reasons, one of the main reasons being the plight of the Sumatran tigers in the wild,” she said.
Since November the team have been doing “protected contact introductions” with the two tigers, who have separate habitats due to their solitary nature.
“This is where the tigers, they can see each other, they can hear each other, they can have semi-contact between the mesh barrier.”
Keepers carefully monitor the introductions to make sure the tigers are displaying positive and neutral behaviours “until we see that we’re at a stage where we can put the tigers in together”.
One such behaviour is the flehmen response, where the tiger takes a scent deeply into their nasal passages through their mouths. It can look as though the tiger is grinning. It is how tigers and many other mammals investigate and pick up the scent and pheromones of another animal’s presence.
Bashii was showing a great deal of interest in Senja’s scent, which was a “positive sign”.
They had also rubbed cheeks through the mesh fence and “chuffed” at each other, which was a form of greeting.
“The most important aspect for us is the tiger’s welfare. There’s no guarantee that the tigers will be introduced together. If there’s anything at any point that would say to us that it wouldn’t be wise to do that, then we won’t introduce the tigers . . .”
Richardson said the process to reach a breeding phase was “complex”. It’s been at least a few years since the zoo team last tried to introduce tigers.
There was no certainty any of this would result in tiger cubs being born.
“It’s amazing for people to be able to come in and connect with these animals anyway, but to be involved in a breeding programme that is such an important role for a critically endangered animals is really important, not just to the zoo team, but for our community as well.”
Bill English, National leader