May 25, 2023
Matawii Dam waters political harmony
Labour and New Zealand First politicians shared the limelight yesterday – with none of the rancour of recent months.
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has made attacks on Labour a centrepiece of his campaign to get back into parliament.
But Maori Development Minister Willie Jackson says that wasn’t raised when Mr Peters and former regional development minister Shane Jones joined members of the Maori caucus to open a dam at Matawii which will improve water supply for the Kaikohe area.
“Everybody behaved themselves because the kaupapa is the main thing. We can have a crack at each other as they have been doing particularly against us but when we get together, our korero to them was a mihi to them, obviously for the Provincial Growth Fund they advocated. We don’t resile from that. Those were good years and our relationships at a certain level have always been good,” he says.
Maori Ministers are on a gruelling tour of the country spelling out what’s in the Budget for Maori.