April 08, 2019
Loudest voice dominating Ngāpuhi politics
Former Te Taitokerau MP Hone Harawira believes creating a Ngāpuhi parliament would be a way to sort out the continuing crisis of representation in the north.
He says there are a range of models to look at around the country, including the marae-based Tainui parliament, Ngāti Kahungunu's nework of taiwhenua and Ngāi Tahu's rūnaka system in the South Island.
He says the debate has become bogged down in a war between Ngāpuhi Rūnanga backed claims settlement body Tūhoronuku and its hapū critics about who should sit at the negotiating table.
He believes a resolution needs to start with the establishment of structures to represent hapū in a transparent way.
"I'm a member of a number of hapū in Ngāpuhi and I don't get anyone ever asking what I think about this, that or the other. What I hear is people saying 'we speak for the hapū and we say no.' If you say you speak for the hapū, how come you never ask me?" Mr Harawira says.
He says the current Ngāpuhi hapū dynamic seems to be about who has the biggest voice rather than any attempt to determine what people really want.
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