Waitangi visit won’t be ‘peaches and cream’
PRIME Minister John Key is expecting his reception to be ‘‘a bit rough’’ when he attends celebrations at Waitangi later this week.
‘‘I wish I could tell you it would be, kind of, peaches and cream but my experience of being up there – this will be my ninth time – there’s always a mixture of different things that happen,’’ he said yesterday.
Key will attend a powhiri and hui at Te Tii lower marae on Thursday and the dawn service on Friday, followed by a speech at a breakfast event.
He said it was ‘‘a pretty robust environment’’ on Te Tii Marae, and he did not expect the reaction to be different this year.
Previous visits had seen ‘‘someone taking a swing at me outside the treaty grounds’’, through to him being shouted at and being held up for hours.
On the other side of the ledger, he saw it as an opportunity to put the Government’s case.
Key said he did not about his safety.
He pointed to the 46 deeds of settlements signed by his Government in the past six years, compared with 16 signed in nine years under Labour.
worry
He said the settlements had allowed significant economic development for iwi and the regions where the iwi were based.
However, Labour leader Andrew Little said he saw no reason why it would not be a positive experience.
‘‘Waitangi is always an interesting experience, I’ve enjoyed going there on Waitangi Days,’’ Little said.
‘‘I think the day before Waitangi Day itself is always an occasion to debate and discuss and sometimes that’s forthright – it’s a good thing, that’s in the spirit of
past the Treaty. But I’m looking forward to getting up there and doing my bit.’’
Little said there may be problems, but that was the nature of the commemorations. ‘‘I can’t recall a Waitangi Day where there hasn’t been tension between Ngapuhi and others up there and the government; that’s the nature of life and the nature of the beast up there.
‘‘Those tensions aren’t unhealthy, they’re just a reality. And there’s still a way to go as we go through the Treaty settlement processes to get them settled up.’’
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