January 23, 2018
Waitangi moves will set tone for year
New Zealand First MP Shane Jones says the shift of the official powhiri to the Treaty Grounds will be a chance for the new Government to set a positive tone to this year's Waitangi commemorations.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern intends to spend five days in the Bay of Islands.
She is also schedlued to speak from the porch of the Whare Runanga during the powhiri.
Mr Jones says there can be no repeat of the last couple of years, where disrespectful treatment of manuhiri at the lower Te Tii Marae dominated headlines.
"This is a new Prime Minister. She wants to set an agenda and she wants to set a tone that in her assessment with resonate with Aotearoa. It will never resonate with Aotearoa to have manuhiri, politicians in particular, the Government arriving and summarily being told 'you're not allowed to speak on this marae,'" he says.
Mrf Jones says the people of Ngati Rahiri and Ngati Te Kawa have only themselves to blame for being bypassed.
SHANE JONES INTERVIEW
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