Local links run deep

FROM THE BEEHIVE

Kia ora readers. Ka tangi te titi, ka tangi te kaka, e tangi nei ahau. Thank you for taking the time to read the first of what will be a regular column from me. I am the newly elected Labour MP for Te Tai Tonga, the largest electorate in Aotearoa/new Zealand, extending from the Wellington region and covering the whole of Te Waipounamu/south Island, including Stewart Island.

On Waitangi Day, I had the pleasure of attending Te Rau Aroha Marae at Bluff for the Ngai Tahu Treaty celebrations, welcomed by our Ngai Tahu chief and Upoko of Awarua Runanga Ta Tipene O’regan. Having whakapapa roots to Murihiku, I find Southland people warm and friendly and I enjoyed the environmentally diverse nature of the day compared with the much more political nature of the day before at Te Tii Marae in Waitangi.

I am Ngai Tahu and for me the region around Foveaux Strait is important historically, with Ruapuke Island under the control of Hone Tuhawaiki in the 19th century having been the centre of a major tribal empire, as well as in terms of its natural resources, and being one of three places in the South Island where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed.

Like Tuhawaiki, who stood up against a lot larger party (in his case Te Rauparaha), I and the Labour Party will continue to strongly oppose the Government’s asset sales policy and any proposed abolition of section 9 of the State-owned Enterprises Act. My late aunt, Whetu TirikateneSullivan, ONZ, former MP for Southern Maori, played a central role in the Lange Labour Government to ensure insertion of the Treaty principles provision in section 9. This section has played a major role in the modern era of Treaty settlements.

As Maori, we are the kaitiaki, or guardians, of our environment and issues such as the crisis with the Waituna Lagoon, agricultural waste disposal issues and the future of oil, gas and minerals exploration matter to me. We can and do need to do better and I encourage further engagement and participation on these issues.

Tourism is one of our nation’s biggest earners and as Labour’s tourism spokesperson, issues such as sustainable management of vital tourist areas such as Queenstown, Wanaka and Fiordland matter to me and I am keen to support where and when I can.

In the coming months I will be opening an electorate office in Invercargill to build relationships with all the Te Tai Tonga residents and voters of Murihiku or Southland.

In the meantime, feel free to contact me either by email: rino.tirikatene@parliament.govt.nz, or by free postage to Parliament, Private Bag 18 888, Wellington 6160.

Kia ora mai ano