August 03, 2022
Dawn Raids and land occupations signs of the times
Former MP Shane Jones says the dawn raids of the 1970s are now part of the social history and fabric of Aotearoa.
It’s a year since the Government formally apologised to New Zealand’s Pacific communities for the discriminatory way immigration rules were enforced in the 1970s and 80s.
Mr Jones says the importance of the raids will only grow as people have the benefit of hindsight to find out what happened and how it fitted into the bigger picture of change.
“It was a similar time to the Maakite (Land) March, the Raglan Gold Course occupation the Bastion Point occupation, and the creation of the Waitangi Tribunal. You can actually see a connection amongst a whole host of social events back then and it was a reawakening amongst te ao Māori,” he says.