April 04, 2022
Paepae spot terrifying for wahine
Greens co-leader Marama Davidson says speaking at the tangi of Moana Jackson was an honour – and terrifying.
Ms Davidson joined a lineup of wahine on the paepae over the three days, in keeping with the lifetime activist’s wish that women be allowed to speak on the marae.
“That’s so Moana and I felt both oh no, here we go, and people were ‘you can’t refuse, you’re a minister, you’re a co-leader.’ I was absolutely terrified and I do not hold my own level of reo to be anywhere near the expertise I expect of the paepae so I had to dig really deep and try to uplift the mana of Moana as much as I possibly could,” she says.