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February 28, 2023
Former minister advocated fairness and justice
Adam Gifford
Posted On February 28, 2023
Download AudioMaori Party co-leader Debbie Ngarewa Packer says the late Chester Burrows was someone who became an advocate for fairness and justice because of his lived experience as a policeman and lawyer.
The former Whanganui MP and National cabinet minister died yesterday aged 65 after being diagnosed last year with cancer.
Ms Ngarewa Packer says he was a neighbour in Hawera and she got to know him well.
“I knew him when he was a young cop, he actually arrested my whanau, and as he aged he understood the inequities in the broken system our people are kicked around in and he became a staunch advoctate for justice, for fairness. He was a very good tangata tiriti. He got it,” she says.
Debbie Ngarewa Packer says during her election campaign Chester Borrows let her Te Pati Maori billboard on his fence.
Also yesterday another former National Party minister and former High Commissioner to London, Paul East, died after a long illness. He was 76.
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