September 11, 2023

Indigenous comment riles tangata kakariki

Adam Gifford Posted On September 11, 2023

Adam Gifford Indignenous comment riles tangata kakariki

We may not be indigenous, but we're certainly tangata whenua.

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We may not be indigenous, but we’re certainly tangata whenua.

That’s the response from Greens’ Northland candidate Huhana Lyndon to New Zealand First leader Winston Peters’ claim at a Nelson meeting that Māori are not indigenous because they came from Hawaiiki 900 or so years ago.

She says her Ngāti Wai relative seems to have skipped their iwi’s waka stories.

“And the indigenous term itself is difficult. He kupu pakeha tera, but te iwi Maori is tangata whenua. Te iwi Maori have a tiriti with the crown that needs to be honoured and that’s the disappointing thing that is difficult with my Ngāti Wai uncle with these comments that seek to divide our people,” Ms Lyndon says.