Nga¯ti Kahungunu call to mobilise against the Govt
Frustrating Govt taking away Ma¯ori names
Nga¯ti Kahungunu is hurting, and a protest in Hastings is the beginning of a mobilisation that will be a “marathon”, chairman Bayden Barber told a crowd of 300 on Tuesday morning.
The protest, one of many across the North Island, was planned against Government policies labelled “antiMa¯ori” and was signalled by Te Pa¯ti Ma¯ori.
While many of the protests were based at traffic choke points around New Zealand cities, the pedestrianised square at Hastings Clocktower was chosen for Hawke’s Bay’s protest.
This meant disruption was limited and korero could be done largely without megaphones.
Leading the protest, which was predominantly spoken in te reo, were Te tane Huata, Barber, kaumatua Jerry Hapuku and other Kahungunu dignitaries, which included a passionate speech by the iwi’s departing language-revitalisation campaigner Jeremy Ta¯tere Macleod.
Banners and Tino Rangatiratanga flags were common, while Huata wore a Palestine flag while speaking.
Barber told the crowd everyone present was a descendant of the Treaty of Waitangi, but the Government wanted to “take us back to days of pre-Treaty of Waitangi”.
Barber said it was frustrating that the Government appeared to O¯be taking away Ma¯ori names from its departments and that the Ma¯ori Health Authority was at risk.
“We’re all about standing up for our people and this is the start of the campaign.
“We’ve got three years of this Government and so for the next three years, we need to plan, we need to work out how we are going to get our message out.
“This is one way of doing it, but this is not a sprint, this is a marathon,” Barber said.