Ngāti Kahungunu is taking its campaign to protect Te Tiriti o Waitangi directly to Parliament — on horseback.
Ngāti Kahungunu Iwi Incorporated Chair Bayden Barber will lead riders on a journey of hundreds of kilometres from Waimārama to Te Whanganui-a-Tara, carrying a petition calling on Parliament not to remove or amend Te Tiriti principles or references in New Zealand legislation.
The five-day trek leaves Waimārama Marae on Friday, travelling through the Ngāti Kahungunu takiwā before crossing the Remutaka Range and heading to Parliament.
The petition is expected to be handed to Ikaroa-Rāwhiti MP Cushla Tangaere-Manuel before being presented to the House.
HORSEBACK PROTEST WITH A MESSAGE
The decision to travel by horseback is deliberate.
Barber says farmers have previously taken tractors to the streets when they have wanted governments to listen. For Ngāti Kahungunu, horses will carry tangata whenua and their message all the way to the steps of Parliament.
But this is about considerably more than the mode of transport.
The iwi says it is defending the continuing place of Te Tiriti within the laws governing Aotearoa and challenging a programme of legislative change it believes is weakening Māori rights and the Crown’s Treaty obligations.
The petition itself is straightforward — it asks Parliament not to remove or amend Te Tiriti principles or references in legislation.
TREATY REFERENCES UNDER REVIEW
The campaign comes as the coalition Government continues a wide-ranging review of Treaty provisions across existing legislation.
The review stems from the National-New Zealand First coalition agreement and includes replacing some references to Treaty principles with more specific wording or removing provisions altogether.
Cabinet has also agreed that some stronger statutory Treaty obligations should be reduced, including provisions requiring decision-makers to give effect to Te Tiriti or its principles being changed to no higher than taking them into account.
Ngāti Kahungunu has identified 19 pieces of legislation at the centre of its immediate concerns, spanning areas including education, health, climate change, environmental regulation, statistics, digital identity and drinking water.
According to the iwi, seven laws would have Treaty references repealed, two would have references amended or weakened, and another 10 would have changes specifying how Te Tiriti considerations are applied.
The Government argues the review will provide greater clarity around Treaty clauses.
Ngāti Kahungunu sees the issue very differently, arguing changes of this scale should not proceed without genuine engagement with iwi and hapū.
WAITANGI TRIBUNAL SOUNDS WARNING
The Government’s approach has also been challenged by the Waitangi Tribunal.
The Tribunal has recommended that the Treaty clause reforms be paused, finding the proposed changes would significantly weaken statutory recognition of Te Tiriti and amount to a serious constitutional regression.
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has rejected the recommendation to stop the work.
However, the legislation is not expected to pass before the 7 November election, meaning its ultimate future could depend on the composition of the next Parliament.
That makes Ngāti Kahungunu’s ride both a protest against current policy and a message to whoever governs Aotearoa after Election 2026.
RIDING THROUGH THE WHAKAPAPA OF TE TIRITI
The route itself carries deep historical significance.
The journey begins at Waimārama Marae, connected to Harawira Mahikai Te Tātere, a Ngāti Kurukuru rangatira and ancestor of Barber who signed Te Tiriti at Waipūreku in 1840.
Riders will connect with whānau from Heretaunga, Ahuriri and Wairoa before travelling through Havelock North and Hastings and on to Kahurānaki Marae at Te Hauke.
The journey also connects with the histories of other Ngāti Kahungunu rangatira who signed Te Tiriti, including Te Hāpuku Te Ika-nui-o-te-Moana and Hoani Waikato.
From there, the riders will travel through Waipawa, Waipukurau, Rākautātahi, Tāmaki-nui-a-Rua and Te Whakaoriori before crossing the Remutaka into Te Awakairangi.
Each stop links the modern political campaign with the whakapapa and communities whose tūpuna were part of the Te Tiriti story.
FROM WAIMĀRAMA TO THE STEPS OF PARLIAMENT
The final stage will see riders arrive at Waiwhetū before heading towards Parliament, with horse riders from other iwi invited to join the final leg from Pito One to Te Whare Paremata.
That could transform the final kilometres into a much wider expression of support for the kaupapa.
The timing is also highly symbolic.
The petition’s arrival coincides with Te Wiki o te Reo Māori and comes more than half a century after the landmark Māori language petition was presented to Parliament in September 1972.
That petition, carrying more than 30,000 signatures, called for te reo Māori to be taught in schools and became one of the defining moments of the Māori language revitalisation movement.
MORE THAN ONE TREATY FIGHT
For Ngāti Kahungunu, concern extends beyond the Government’s Treaty clause review.
The iwi has also opposed other legislative reforms it believes diminish Te Tiriti obligations and Māori participation.
Its 2026 political action programme calls for Te Tiriti to be explicitly embedded within regulation and policy and for meaningful engagement with iwi and hapū throughout policy development and implementation.
Barber has also pointed to changes affecting Mana Whakahono ā Rohe, arrangements that enabled iwi authorities and councils to establish formal ways of working together on resource-management decisions.
The Government’s replacement resource-management system will not carry those existing arrangements forward in their current form.
That means the horseback trek is becoming a vehicle for a much broader argument about the Crown-Māori relationship.
TE TIRITI MEETS ELECTION 2026
There is another message travelling with the riders — vote.
Barber wants the journey to encourage Māori participation in Election 2026, particularly among rangatahi and whānau who may otherwise stay away from the ballot box.
With the future of the Treaty clause reforms likely to fall to the next Parliament, voter turnout could have a direct bearing on what happens next.
Ngāti Kahungunu is therefore linking whakapapa, political participation and Te Tiriti into one journey.
From Waimārama, through the whenua of Ngāti Kahungunu, across the Remutaka and finally to the steps of Parliament, the riders will carry a message rooted in an agreement signed by their tūpuna 186 years ago.
The horses may be travelling hundreds of kilometres — but the kaupapa stretches all the way back to 1840: protect Te Tiriti, protect its place in the law, and make sure the voices of its descendants are heard.
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