From Koroneihana to the Pacific: Teanau Tuiono Says Leadership Must Put People and Planet First
Green Party MP Teanau Tuiono says the crises confronting Aotearoa and the wider world cannot be treated as separate issues, linking poverty, conflict, Pacific security and climate change to a need for political leadership that protects people, whenua and future generations. The Green Party spokesperson for social development and children has been reflecting on a…
Green Party MP Teanau Tuiono says the crises confronting Aotearoa and the wider world cannot be treated as separate issues, linking poverty, conflict, Pacific security and climate change to a need for political leadership that protects people, whenua and future generations.
The Green Party spokesperson for social development and children has been reflecting on a significant week spanning Koroneihana, growing geopolitical tensions across the Pacific and the continuing conflict in the Middle East.
For Tuiono, who has Cook Islands and Māori whakapapa, the connections are clear: decisions made about climate, security and international conflict eventually reach communities, whānau and tamariki.
And nowhere is that more apparent than across Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa.
Koroneihana sends message beyond politics
Tuiono was among those attending Koroneihana 2026, where iwi gathered at Tūrangawaewae to honour loved ones lost and consider the challenges facing the generations ahead.
The kaupapa provided a markedly different perspective from the day-to-day political battle in Wellington.
Alongside remembrance, kotahitanga and whakapapa was a powerful message about responsibilities to te taiao and what today’s leaders leave behind for mokopuna.
For Tuiono, environmental protection cannot simply be another policy portfolio competing against economic priorities.
It is about intergenerational responsibility.
That perspective has particular significance for Māori, where the relationship between people and whenua is not simply one of ownership or economic use.
The health of communities is connected to the health of the environment around them.
Pacific increasingly caught between powerful nations
That message comes as the Pacific Islands Forum has again demonstrated how strategically important the region has become.
Pacific leaders have been dealing with security tensions involving some of the world’s most powerful countries while simultaneously trying to keep the focus on the issues their communities identify as priorities.
Recent missile activity has heightened those concerns and reinforced demands for greater transparency when military tests could affect the region.
For Pacific nations with direct historical experience of nuclear testing and militarisation, those fears carry a weight outsiders can sometimes underestimate.
Tuiono’s broader concern is that Pacific peoples must be able to determine their own future rather than finding their ocean transformed into an arena for competition between larger powers.
For Aotearoa, that requires listening to Pacific voices rather than assuming New Zealand automatically knows what is best for the region.
An ocean of peoples, not a geopolitical chessboard
Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa is sometimes discussed internationally through the language of strategy, influence and security.
For Pacific peoples, it is much more.
It is whakapapa.
It is whenua and moana.
It is home.
That distinction becomes increasingly important as China, the United States and other powers compete for strategic influence.
Tuiono has consistently advocated for a Pacific-centred approach to foreign policy, where regional nations have greater agency over the decisions affecting them.
Climate change remains central to that argument.
For low-lying Pacific nations, rising seas and extreme weather are not future possibilities to be debated at international conferences.
They are already shaping decisions about infrastructure, freshwater, food security and the long-term future of communities.
Middle East conflict carrying global consequences
Tuiono is also looking beyond the Pacific to the worsening situation in the Middle East.
The confrontation involving the United States and Iran has placed the Strait of Hormuz at the centre of another dangerous international flashpoint.
The waterway was responsible for close to a fifth of global crude oil and liquefied natural gas shipments before the current war, making disruption there a threat well beyond the Middle East. Recent shipping movements have remained dramatically below normal levels amid attacks, military pressure and the continuing US-Iran confrontation.
The conflict escalated again this week, with US strikes against Iranian targets followed by Iranian retaliation, while neither side has indicated it is prepared to make the concessions demanded by the other.
For countries thousands of kilometres away, the consequences can eventually be felt through energy prices, freight costs and inflation.
For families already struggling with household costs, international instability can therefore quickly become a domestic economic issue.
Tamariki ultimately carry the consequences
That connection is particularly important given Tuiono’s social development and children portfolios.
Whether the pressure comes from climate change, higher living costs, housing insecurity or international instability, children are often among those least responsible for a crisis but most exposed to its consequences.
For Māori and Pacific whānau already confronting inequalities in housing, health and income, another economic shock can deepen existing hardship.
Tuiono’s political argument is that governments cannot keep treating poverty as an individual failure while ignoring the structural conditions surrounding families.
Reducing child poverty requires secure housing, adequate incomes, accessible public services and investment in communities.
But it also requires thinking further ahead.
Climate resilience is social policy when flooding destroys homes.
Energy security is social policy when fuel prices push household budgets over the edge.
Environmental policy becomes health policy when polluted waterways or extreme heat affect communities.
And foreign policy becomes a household issue when conflict disrupts the commodities and supply chains families rely on.
Climate action cannot keep waiting
Tuiono says the need for stronger climate action is becoming increasingly urgent.
The Pacific has long argued that climate change is its greatest security threat, even as international attention increasingly turns towards military competition.
For the Greens, those two ideas of security are fundamentally different.
A larger military presence may respond to geopolitical threats.
It does not stop seas rising around island communities.
It does not protect drinking water from saltwater intrusion.
It does not rebuild homes after cyclones.
And it does not restore ecosystems damaged by a warming climate.
The party wants greater emphasis on emissions reductions, environmental protection and climate adaptation, alongside support for Pacific communities already experiencing the consequences.
People, whenua and mokopuna
The threads connecting Koroneihana, the Pacific Islands Forum and the Middle East may initially appear distant from each other.
But Tuiono sees a common question running through them.
What kind of world is this generation of political leaders preparing to hand to the next?
At Tūrangawaewae, the message is grounded in whakapapa and responsibilities extending beyond one electoral term.
Across the Pacific, island nations are demanding the right to shape their own futures while confronting a climate crisis they did little to create.
And in the Middle East, escalating conflict demonstrates how quickly decisions made by powerful states can reverberate around the globe.
For Tuiono, leadership cannot simply be measured by economic growth or the next set of polling numbers.
It must also be measured by whether tamariki are lifted out of poverty, communities have security, Pacific peoples retain agency over their region, and te taiao is protected for the generations still to come.
