PM invited to bury baby’s placenta at nation’s birthplace
Giving away choosing the name of your first child is a pretty big ask, but Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern may have just been offered an equally symbolic but easier way out.
At the Treaty Grounds yeserday, Ardern became the first female prime minister to speak during a powhiri at Waitangi, and it was there that Minister for Wha¯ nau Ora Peeni Henare, one of her closest advisers, suggested she bury her baby’s placenta. The significant gesture wasn’t lost on Ardern, who later said she was yet to talk to her partner, Clarke Gayford, about it, but the fact the suggestion was even made meant a lot to her.
Burying a baby’s placenta is a long-held custom in Maoridom, and while every Governor-General has planted a tree at the Treaty grounds, Henare said what better than to have the first prime minister to have a baby while in office bury the placenta at the birthplace of the nation.
At Ratana celebrations last month, the name Te Waru was offered to Ardern as a baby name. At the Iwi Chairs Forum on Friday, Sonny (after Ngapuhi leader Sonny Tau) was offered – albeit in jest.
At Karetu Marae on Saturday she was offered Waimirirangi.
While there’s no pressure on Ardern and Gayford to follow through with the burial, the beauty of it is that if they do, it’s a way to acknowledge tradition and the importance of rangatahi (children) to Ma¯ ori while keeping hold of their own favourite baby names.
There’s no doubt Ardern’s baby has had a huge effect on the way she’s been received at Waitangi. The Government has sold itself on being a generational change – nothing embodies that more than a prime minister set to breastfeed in Parliament.
One Nga¯ puhi leader described it as the ‘‘Jacinda effect hitting the North’’ and said her pregnancy had taken away the political aspects of the occasion.
However, by the time Ardern returns in 12 months’ time, the baby headlines would have subsided and the honeymoon the Government has had at Waitangi would be over.
This time, the Government has been in office for just over 100 days – next year, it’ll have a track record to defend, and that will be the true test.
Ardern acknowledged that in her speech, saying she wanted to be held to account and earn the right to speak at the marae.
The mood at Waitangi yesterday was one many had never seen in their lifetime.
Returning to Te Tii Marae is the hope, but for now those from Nga¯ puhi who were at the core of organising the po¯ whiri were just relieved to get through the day without being embarrassed. In fact, the only argument between iwi leaders yesterday morning was which order they’d speak in.
While Waitangi won’t always be such a peaceful place, the feeling from those close to Te Tii Marae was that the day had been reclaimed – not just for Nga¯ puhi, but the whole country.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and MPs from across Parliament have been officially welcomed at Waitangi, where Ardern has made history as being the first female prime minister to speak at the po¯ whiri.
Yesterday, she told the hundreds who had gathered at the upper marae to hear her speak, that she hadn’t come to Waitangi for five days for the ‘‘beauty and hospitality’’ but because ‘‘there’s much work to do’’.
In recent days, she had spoken to iwi about health, education, housing, roads and employment and now ‘‘we must turn talk to action’’.
Ardern also spoke of wanting to earn the right to speak at the marae. ‘‘So, when we return in one year, in three years, I ask you to ask us what we have done for you. Hold us to account. Because one day I want to be able to tell my child that I earned the right to stand here. And only you can tell me when I have done that,’’ she said.
Ardern used cue cards at the beginning of her speech as she addressed everyone in te reo – a situation that she said at Ka¯ retu Marae on Saturday was hopefully only temporary.
Labour MP Peeni Henare, who is from Nga¯puhi and has been heavily involved in Ardern’s opportunity to speak, said he’d received some criticism from people about her doing so.
Traditionally, on February 5, politicians go to Te Tii Marae and only men are able to speak during the po¯ whiri.
Yesterday, that welcome was powerful and emotional as it kicked off the day of political talks.
Speaking to media after the ceremony, Ardern said while it was ‘‘historic and a privilege’’ to have the opportunity to speak at the marae, ‘‘now I carry that expectation for the rest of my time in office’’.
‘‘I openly put it out there that we do need to keep being challenged. It is early days and I expect that challenge when we return.’’
She said poverty, youth suicide and low employment rates were obvious issues where gaps existed for many Ma¯ ori – ‘‘what we need now is a real focus on what it will take to close them’’.
Henare and others on the marae made the suggestion that Ardern bring her baby’s placenta back to Waitangi and, while she has yet to discuss the idea with partner Clarke Gayford, she acknowledged the significance of that offer.
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters said it was a ‘‘serious relief and serious success’’ to have such a peaceful event ahead of
‘‘If we’re going to talk about which part of me gets reward for being Ma¯ ori and which part of me gets reward for being Pakeha, we’re going to get nowhere.’’ Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters
Waitangi Day. Peters was asked about Ma¯ori rights to water – something his NZ First party doesn’t support – and whether it was an issue that was alive and well in talks at Waitangi.
‘‘If we’re going to talk about which part of me gets reward for being Ma¯ ori and which part of me gets reward for being Pakeha, we’re going to get nowhere.
‘‘You can’t complain about people trying to get some economic means of advancement whether it be genuine or valid or not. But we need to set the other issues for iwi so that their basic needs are met.
‘‘Frankly, if we’re going to start charging a different regime because of the colour of our skin then you’re going to have to ask some pertinent Ma¯ ori around the country, are they as water users going to pay?’’
Senior National Party MP Steven Joyce led a delegation to Waitangi on behalf of leader Bill English, who is joining commemorations in Bluff this year.
Joyce said there had been two innovations that had contributed to a successful and peaceful day – moving the po¯ whiri to the upper marae and also taking celebrations around the country. ‘‘I think we should do both. I think that’s something a lot of New Zealanders who can’t come to the north would appreciate.’’
A member from each political party spoke at the marae, where NZ First MP and Nga¯ puhi descendant, Shane Jones, had earlier welcomed Ardern. He said she’d ‘‘put a smile on the face of Waitangi today’’.
He acknowledged Joyce and Greens leader James Shaw for starting their speeches in te reo and keeping the language alive.