June 10, 2016
Kaupapa ahead of politics for Sir Graham
Tamaki Makaurau MP Peeni Henare says kaupapa will trump political ideology in the Maori world.
Mr Henare accompanied Labour Party leader Andrew Little yesterday to the tangi for Sir Graham Latimer, who not only chaired the New Zealand Maori Council for four decades but also served for a decade as the National Party’s Maori vice president.
He says Sir Graham was able to straddle political ideology and pushed through kaupapa he believed were right.
"It's about kaupapa for our people, if the kaupapa works for our people, let's get behind it. Political idealogy, they don't teach that on the marae, they don't teach that in a kohanga or in a kura but what they do teach is kaupapa. Sir Graham, we know he was a national party candidate at one point and time but you know what he probably achieved alot of the outcomes that he did alongside his close whanaunga Matiu Rata and the Labour Party and that's a great thing", says Mr Henare.
The funeral service for Sir Graham Latimer is tomorrow morning.
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