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Two Maori are in line for the Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year award, which will be announced tonight at a gala event at Auckland’s Langham Hotel.
Kaitaia general practitioner Lance O’Sullivan and educator Iritana Tawhiwhirangi are in the line-up alongside Catriona Williams, the founder of CatWalk Spinal Cord Injury Trust which raises money for spinal cord injury research.
Dame Iritana says she hasn’t allowed investigations into spending at a Kohanga Reo National Trust subsidiary detract from the event.
" Well I never felt worried about it because it’s a small group of people who’ve got a bee in their bonnet, and they’ve got a right to do a haka I guess. But if anybody who is honest about what they are doing and just moving on, I could have really got up and hit out but what’s the point. I don’t have to justify myself in the eyes of a few people who have a bone to pick," she says.
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