January 25, 2024
Boos strike bum note at Ratana
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters says the annual Ratana celebrations are not about political protest, and people should take their anger elsewhere.
Mr Peters and deputy leader Shane Jones were booed during yesterday’s pōwhiri for the Government parties, with speakers berating them for supposed attacks on te reo Māori.
He says the boos didn’t come from the Ratana reception committee.
“They were coming from bystanders and observers who had been there with Te Pāti Māori. the Greens and also the Labour Party. So it was the dross and leftovers from those parties standing there and trying to make their protest in a circumstance which was against all the protocol of that marae,” Mr Peters says.
He says Ratana is a place for dialogue and frank discussion and those trying to turn it into something else were abusing the movement.