February 24, 2022
Protesters not good manuhiri
The chair of Port Nicholson Settlement Trust says it’s up to the Government to resolve the protest at parliament, but mana whenua are ready to be part of the solution.
Kara Puketapu-Dentice says Taranaki Whānui wants to see peaceful de-escalation, in line with the principles exemplified by its symbol the raukura.
He says there have been a couple of meetings with protesters, including one where protesters tried to serve an eviction notice on Pipitea Marae.
While some of their kōrero was confusing, there was also deep mamae, such as the kuia who could not attend her son’s funeral because of lockdowns and then was barred from his kawe mate because she would not be vaccinated.
“We believe in respectful, peaceful protest. We’ve been protesting the crown for 182 years and we value and respect the right to protest but we also expect people protesting on our whenua do that in a respectful way, aka, be a good manuhiri on our whenua,” Mr Puketapu-Dentice says.
He says Aotearoa needs to end the pandemic as it started, as a team of 5 million.