May 01, 2024
Fronting up won Shaw support
Former party co-leader James Shaw is set to give his valedictory speech in Parliament this afternoon – and co-leader Marama Davidson says engagement with tangata whenua has been an important part of his decade in politics.
Mr Shaw stood down as co-leader in January but stayed on for the first reading on his member’s bill to make the right to a sustainable environment part of the Bill of Rights.
The bill was voted down last month.
Ms Davidson says his hands-on approach could be seen in the way he responded to protests in the north about the Far North District Council’s implementation of regulations around significant natural areas, which would have locked up much of the remaining whenua Maori from development.
“He was really able to hear what the concerns were from Maori and not only that he left with many of our groups, many of our Maori in the north saying we wants more resources and support to decide how we will protect our land better,” she says.