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Download AudioLabour leader Chris Hipkins says the Government is trying to take the country back on Māori rights and race relations after 30 years of progress.
Mr Hipkins made a major speech at the Auckland City Mission on Saturday on Maori policy and the path to Waitangi in 2040, when the nation will celebrate the 200th anniversary of the signing of the treaty.
He said Christopher Luxon’s Coalition Government will be remembered as a one term government who in three years paddled the waka backwards.
He told Radio Waatea people need to reject racism and race baiting.
“In the 16 years between now and 2040 we can reshape Aotearoa New Zealand to be the place where we want it to be, to be a place where we all come together, where everybody’s prospering, everybody’s thriving and we have the time to do that but we have to make the right decisions now if that’s the type of country we want to live in in 2040,” Mr Hipkins said.
He stands by initiatives like the Maori health authority Te Aka Whai Ora, but Labour failed to win the public debate in an environment where parties on the right were whipping up anxiety and fear.
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