November 08, 2023
Dignity of Waitangi at stake
Outgoing Māori-Crown Relations Minister Kelvin Davissays he’s interested to see if National turns up at Waitangi next year.
He says the way the ceremonies have been run on New Zealand’s national day contrasted with the protests that often marked previous National administrations, with previous prime ministers John Key and Bill English skipping the Bay of Islands in 2016 and 2017.
“We put a lot of effort over the past six years to make sure it was a dignified occasion, that we spent a lot of time there engaging with people on the ground, Maori on the ground up in Tai Tokerau so it will be interesting to see how that goes because the last thing I want is for the dignity of the occasion and the dignity of Ngapuhi to be diminished by the new Government,” Mr Davis says.
He is also unsure if his ministry, Te Arawhiti, which has oversight of the treaty settlements office, will be continued under the new coalition.