Saturday's Hui: One Hell of a Show... Probably Don't Go

Image credit: The Signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, February 6th, 1840, 1938 by Marcus King. Ref: G-821-2 Alexander Turnbull Library

EDITORIAL:

As New Zealanders' eyes fixate on the 6 pm news bulletins this Saturday, they will witness not just a cultural hui, but a carefully orchestrated circus by a particularly vociferous cross-section of Māori elite. The Hui-aa-Motu, while a significant event, is being used as a stage for a select few to parade personal grievances and maintain their sway.

This group, prominently including figures like Tuku Morgan, Margaret Mutu, and John Tamihere, has for several years now enjoyed power, sometimes granted, and often not, by directly democratic means. For the last few years, it's been bestowed through ministerial directives from the likes of Kelvin Davis, the former Minister of Māori-Crown Relations under Ardern’s government. Their positions, often on influential advisory boards like Three Waters, have given them disproportionate control and benefits, for example, like the proposed 50 percent Māori control of water, now scrapped by the new government.

The recent shift by the National/ACT/NZ First coalition government back to traditional approaches to the Treaty of Waitangi (scholarly examination and interpretation of the documents by more than just Māori) and Te Reo Māori revitalization is seen by these elites as a direct threat to their entrenched positions.

The latest outcry, over government department name changes, appears less about cultural restoration, and more about throwing some red meat to the 16-year-old activists they need to block the motorways, when they should be at kura.

Te Pāti Māori, a party that, regardless of your personal allegiances, should be heralded for meaningful reform under the leadership of Tariana Turia and Pita Sharples, now seems to be more engaged in political agitation than actual advocacy. Their current focus appears to be on keeping the pot boiling for their advantage, rather than advancing Māori interests.

The truth is, all the nonsense today about whakapapa and some divine birth-right to morality is more-or-less undermined by so much of the racism they spread.

Not to say we don't all do it. Pick your god (or in te ao Māori, gods). Humanity since the beginning of time has been trying to exemplify exceptionalism, particularly when individually, most of us aren't that extraordinary. Even Mr Pants Morgan himself.

The truth is, life is brutally random, and some of us win the ovarian lottery, others don't. That's it.

The root of this disgruntled elite's power can be traced back to Jacinda Ardern's tenure. Post-He Puapua and the 2017 general election, Ardern, through ministerial discretion, enhanced the influence of these Māori 'leaders'. This move later cornered her between threats of false allegations of racism, from her own team - in order to get what they wanted, and the threat of electoral defeat.

Some commentators like Sean Plunket argued that it lead to her eventual exit from the political stage.

While the media's coverage of Saturday is natural and necessary (there'll be a ton of kapa haka, and some kuia will probably deliver a mean, possibly off-key, karanga at the top - a TV reporter's dream), it risks misrepresenting the state of Māori and non-Māori relations in Aotearoa.

The portrayal of Hui-aa-Motu shouldn't mean all of tomorrow's news overlooks the everyday cooperation and unity that exist between our communities.

As New Zealanders, Kiwis (fuck I hate that word), tangata whenua, tangata tiriti, non-Māori or Māori, hopefully, we can watch and engage with the event to discern if the motives are well-meaning, or a theatrical parade of elites with their backs up over kick-ass Wellington advisory paychecks.

Just as an aside, how many rangatira actually ever wanted CYFS (Child Youth and Family) to be called Oranga Tamariki, anyway? Especially given the injustices against Māori that were presided over, even with an advisory board stacked with half-a-dozen Māori earning thousands a week and expenses, each?

I can answer that for you. F'all.

We'll know tomorrow, pretty quick if what's unfolding is a desperate political maneuver, or a cultural gathering where meaningful discussion takes place about what rights we're claiming are being downtrodden, and what legal basis exists to make those claims.

I'm not holding my breath for the latter, and nor should you.

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