Greens co-leader Chloe Swarbrick says Kiingi Tuheitia’s vision of kotahitanga offered an alternative to the politics of ignorance and fear.
She says attending the king’s tangihanga was a chance to reflect on Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the work he had done to mobilise opposition to ACT’s Treaty Principles Bill and all it stands for.
She says progressive politics is about weaving together worlds and creating a new house people can move into.
“That’s what the king exemplified. It wasn’t just about perceiving an attack on the likes of Te Tiriti as just an attack in which we need to operate in defence mode, but it was an opportunity to affirm who we are and what we stand for, and I think he saw what we could be as a nation and invited us in to participate in that,” Ms Swarbrick said.
