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September 13, 2023
Whakapapa distraction from path to power
Adam Gifford
Posted On September 13, 2023
Download AudioNew Zealand First Northland candidate Shane Jones says whakapapa isn’t going to fix the challenges Māori face.
Party leader Winston Peters has come under fire for saying Maori aren’t indigenous, as they trace their lineage back through the Pacific to China.
Mr Jones many New Zealanders feel they are being told they have lesser status as citizens because they are not labeled indigenous or tangata whenua or iwi.
He says the Treaty of Waitangi created indivisible citizenship.
“And I think the point Winston is making is a deep point – it goes to what is the character and what makes up the substance of a New Zealander and the notion that because our whakapapa takes us back to Rangiatea, Hawaiiki, wherever, in my view has gripped far too many of us in a way that it is actually distracting us deterring us from what makes a resilient, progressive and powerful nation,” he says.
Shane Jones says no one is denying the bonds of whakapapa, faith or marae, but life is for the future.
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