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Download AudioTauranga MP Simon Bridges’ sign off to Parliament has garnered a lukewarm review from Māori Party co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer.
Mr Bridges said he was proud of his whakapapa and proud to be the first Māori New Zealander to lead one of the big two parties, but he opposed things like Māori wards and the Māori Health Authority because he didn’t want to be treated differently on the basis of race.
“What’s real for him is real for him. Who am I to say? But I thought the paring shot about ‘I’m not a victim.’ Māori don’t wake up and want to be a victim. We don’t ask to be discriminated. We don’t ask to be treated with inequities and inequalities. We don’t ask to sit there and see parties that he supported race-bait and use us as excuses to incite donations,” Ms Ngarewa-Packer says.
She says the difference between her and Mr Bridges was she was taught her whakapapa as a way to think and stand collectively, rather than emphasise individual achievement.
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