ANALYSIS: As debate about “co-governance” stumbles towards Waitangi Day and closer to the election, iwi leaders in Waitangi pondered the Chris questions.
How worried should they be about Christopher Luxon?
And who is Chris Hipkins?
The conclusion, gleaned from discussions between iwi leaders after Friday’s hui with the Government, is that it’s too early to tell. But few iwi leaders are impressed with the Chrises so far.
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Te Arataura chairperson Tukoroirangi Morgan slammed Luxon and the ACT Party for “fanning the flames of racism and anti-Māori sentiment”.
Morgan himself is involved with Three Waters, as an iwi representative for the northern water entity. But his views were shared by other iwi leaders, who had selected him as one of three public spokespeople for the forum.
Taurapa/Stuff
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins lends a hand after testing his waka paddling skills at Waitangi.
He urged Hipkins to stand by the Three Waters plan, including co-governance aspects of it.
“There is nothing mysterious about Three Waters,” he said.
In a statement, National Party leader Luxon said it was Labour being divisive – not him.
“Labour has progressed a divisive agenda and continually failed to set out its views clearly,” he said.
The view from many iwi chairs is that Hipkins could destroy a lot of the Three Waters work, which they believe will position the nation to have cleaner water and fewer floods.
Much of the forum also expressed disappointment at Hipkins’ reshuffle, particularly around the treatment of former local government minister Nanaia Mahuta. It’s understood that the chair people directly challenged Hipkins about his decision to take the local government portfolio off Mahuta, and congratulated her when she arrived at the hui.
Margaret Mutu, of Ngāti Kahu, said Mahuta maintains “great respect” amongst the forum.
ROBERT KITCHIN/Stuff
Nanaia Mahuta remains the foreign affairs minister.
“She has worked hard, taken a lot of flak, but she has never abandoned us,” she said.
“The forum is very supportive of Nanaia, particularly in the way she has been attacked by right-wing extremist trolls. We really feel for her and we are disappointed she has been taken off the local government portfolio.”
She said a main focus of Friday’s hui was pushing the Government to stay the course on Three Waters. Mahuta said it needed to better explain the project to the public.
Co-governance should remain a part of the Three Waters plan, she said, because councils had failed to look after water.
“Councils operate on a three-year-cycle. Managing water, so people can survive, is not a 50 or 100-year plan. Those who are mana whenua are thinking long term,” she said.
On co-governance, Hipkins has signalled changes to the Government’s approach. He said confusion about what “co-governance” means had distracted from the key issues the polices focused on.
Taurapa/Stuff
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins speaks to reporters in Waitangi.
Iwi chairs agreed that confusion was a major issue, and was causing division and fuelling racism in the community. But equally, scrapping Crown-Māori partnerships won’t earn Hipkins any fans at Waitangi.
Just a few weeks into the role as prime minister, iwi chair people who Stuff spoke said it was too early to tell what Hipkins may do. They said it was unclear what he thought during the hui.
He has a few days to introduce himself, however. On Friday evening, he jumped into a waka and got his trousers dirty as he paddled around the harbour.
Luxon, who’s also attending Waitangi for the first time as a party leader, hasn’t given himself the chance to introduce himself. He wouldn’t be meeting the Iwi Chairs, and he won’t arrive in Waitangi until this weekend.
