Apology law for Parihaka
A Crown apology for the invasion of Parihaka and the imprisonment of its people has passed into law.
The law, which formalises an apology first given in 2017, comes nearly 138 years after Crown troops surrounded the south Taranaki pacifist settlement.
About 1600 armed constables and volunteers raided the community on November 5, 1881 and evicted Maori who had gathered to resist the Crown. Women were raped, heirlooms stolen, and farms destroyed. The Crown arrested the group’s prophets, Tohu Kakahi and Te Whiti o Rongomai, who were held without trial for more than a year in the South Island.
A Crown apology was first given to the people of Parihaka in 2017 by then-Treaty Negotiations Minister Chris Finlayson, and a $9 million reconciliation fund was announced by the Labour-led Government the following year.
A law reflecting the apology, Te Pire Haeata ki Parihaka/Parihaka Reconciliation Bill, passed its third reading in Parliament yesterday and will soon become law.
The bill was supported by all parties across the House. More than a hundred people connected to Parihaka travelled to Parliament to witness the occasion.
Minister Kelvin Davis, responsible for Maori-Crown relations, said the apology was ‘‘the end of the beginning’’ for the people of Parihaka, meaning that they could now begin the process of moving on.
‘‘People should really go to Parihaka and actually hear the story . . . It’s real, true history that these people from Parihaka live every day and are reminded of.’’
The law also protects the name Parihaka from unauthorised or commercial use. The name has become synonymous with peaceful resistance.