June 25, 2018
Savvy and stealth part of Wetere toolkit
The end of an incredible part of Māori political history.
That's the response of former MP Sandra Lee to the death of Koro Wetere on Saturday at the age of 83.
Mr Wetere represented Western Māori from 1969 to 1996, with his crowning achievement the passing of the Waikato Tainui Raupatu Settlement in 1995 -0 the first of the major historical settlements.
Ms Lee credits that to his drive and passion to get the settlement through and the shrewdness that was a hallmark of the Maori MPs elected under the first past the post system.
"It wasn't an age where there was a lot of empathy or support for matters Māori in parliament so they had to learn to use sheer political savvy and cunning and speed and stealth in order to get good outcomes," she says.
Ms Lee also remembers Mr Wetere using his political muscle to prevent the arrest of occupiers of Pakaitore in Whanganui.
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