Firstly can I acknowledge the settlement trust for ushering our settlement through to its second and third reading, Te Pio and your team, e mihi nui taioreore atu ana. Despite all of you not being mentioned on the day, the people know. It certainly was a special occasion and it was beautiful having so many whānau travelling to Wellington.
Personally I wasn’t sure how to feel about the settlement and I’ve seen some of the commentary from whānau on the final package. That’s ok, we are all entitled to our views, however, having been in and around the process right back to 1998 when I was fortunate to have been able to provide evidence for Wairoa Hapū during our Tribunal hearings we always knew we would not get everything back. This is the nature of the beast so to speak. But I did see the old people fight hard for recognition of our iwi, our hapū our whānau through a process that is not ours but is necessary, a process that is designed to divide and force us to question ourselves and each other, a process that encourages us to perpetrate raupatu on each other, a process that means that many are driven to fatigue. For that I am grateful, human nature means that we will have challenges and relationships can at times be strained, but we have to get past it. We saw the fatigue on the stalwarts of this claim who were able to make it, people like Des Tata, Merewhiua Bennett, Janis Smith, Julie Tawa, Antoinne Coffin, Shad Rolleston, Jase Ake, Jennifer Rolleston, Ngawa Hall, Sylvia Willison, Tatai Allen, Te Ruruanga Te Keeti, Tamati Tata and then you had the widows of the fighters who were not able to live to see the claim reach its final stage, like Wiki Bidois(Colin Bidois), Kessie Kohu(Peri Kohu), Materoa Bryan(Nepia Bryan). We saw our old people’s photos and were reminded of their contributions, Koro and Nannies such as Morehu, Alec, Matiu, Kiritoha, Rangiwhakaehu, Huikakahu, Minnie, Louie, Martha, Iria, Peter, Amokura, Gracie, Golo, Chrissie, Hauruia, Pip, Hori, Patrick and many others. I felt for our beautiful Aunty Ngaronoa Reweti Ngata as well as the champions like Des Kahotea, Piripi Hikairo and Lance Waaka who continue to fight on every frontier. This is not an exclusive list, just the ones I remember and still see today fighting the good fight.
I hope we have the chance to celebrate the people, these people. Actually, let’s make that happen. Matariki would be a perfect time.
Yesterday I heard a poignant statement “from grievance to prosperity” and I thought, yes, that’s our next challenge. The claim for me, was never about money it was about due recognition. If you knew the story of our iwi you would know that we were written out of history books for our reluctance to surrender to the crown. Subsequent acts both legislative and aggressive were deliberate attempts to annihilate us. Uncle Des Tata reminded us of a story last night, about Te Rauhea, my great great grandfather who travelled to Wellington in the 1940’s with Gearge Hall to try to get recognition for Ngati Ranginui. They had little money and nowhere to stay, so they slept in the park. There are many more stories like this and they make me both sad, and proud.
We didn’t wait for the crown to apologise, in fact our old people set about our resurgence through building people, building Tupuna whare and now we see powerful manifestations on each of our marae, Tupuna immortalised in the best way ever. Our marae are tended to, cared for and our tikanga protected through the undeniable committment of ahi kā, the whānau that are there to ensure these traditions are sustained and maintained.
We have a waka, Tākitimu, not just a vessel, a receptacle, a precious taonga. I remember watching our waka on the Waikato river during the tangihanga for Kiingi Tuheitia and standing next to the chair of one of the biggest iwi, certainly one of the wealthiest and he commented on how lucky we are to have the waka, such a powerful statement of presence and prominence.
And then there’s Te Kapa Haka o Ngāti Ranginui, a repository of knowledge that transfers our stories through generations, who take our story, our message to the biggest Kapa stage in the world, who manaaki our kin relationships with Ngāti Kahungunu, who were started by Kaumatua and continue to be supported by the next generations of elders.
I’ve said this a number of times. If my experience in my time in Wellington, or walking the great halls of power overseas has taught me anything, it’s that we are far too insular as an iwi. We often pull each other down, and are consumed by how we view others, meanwhile, other iwi are moving in and moving up. With that, Yesterday we met with Ngati Toa Rangatira, an iwi similar sized, similar challenges but extremely progressive, they shared their journey and did so unselfishly, beautiful people that like us are defiant and determined. This is the promise I saw in our young people who attended. They are in no shadow of a doubt of who they are. I was excited that they got to experience the theatrics of parliament that day, to watch and witness the Maori MP’s in their element and I’m certain a couple were inspired by that. Wellington really does matter.
This is the promise I personally made when I sought your permission and endorsement to represent you all as Chair of the Runanga. You have endorsed and mandated Uenukurangi, to pull the entities together, that 3 entities is not a viable future for us. It’s 3 years since Suaree and I took this challenge, alongside the Boards , Mel, Josie and a standout team at the Runanga, but we are only half way there.
So I make this committment, to stand again as your chair, to seek your endorsement at this years AGM, which is not until November, to continue to be the best Ngāti Ranginui I can be in every space, because we owe it to the fighters! The patriots as the CEO of Ngāti Toa put it. We are the remnants of those that never backed down, never gave up. So for me, Thursday wasn’t about celebrating the settlement, let’s celebrate the achievement absolutely, it was about commemorating our past, vindicating our tupuna, reinforcing our status as mana whenua led by hapū, honouring the people who walked this pathway long before anyone got paid to do it, realising their dreams, equally, meeting the expectations of our young people.
From Grievance to Prosperity.
That is the promise left to us by Tamatea Arikinui when he performed the rituals such as Uenukurangi, Uruuruwhenua and planting Aukoromoerangi. That’s the road we must take because our map our pathway has already been written.
Ka kitea, ka kitea, ka kitea!
Charlie.
