Ata Tuhakaraina is Vision NZ's candidate for Ikaroa-Rāwhiti. Photo / Paul Taylor
Below is a transcript of the Hawke’s Bay Today candidate evening for Ikaroa-Rāwhiti held at Karamū High School on Wednesday night.
Chris Hyde (Hawke’s Bay Today editor):
Cushla Tangaere-Manuel is running late due to a tangi, but we’ll start now with the icebreaker. Candidates have been asked to bring in a little personal item.
Traditionally we would draw straws to decide who is going first, but we’re going to use artificial intelligence to decide who goes first.
Ata Tuhakaraina (Vision NZ Ikaroa-Rāwhiti candidate):
I know we’ve only got 30 seconds - something that is really close to me, I wear it all the time, is this thing here, my wedding ring. It is a representation of the promise that I made by wedding to my wife, to my faith and to my god Jesus Christ. Before, I used to be a bit of a ratbag and I have been able to turn my life around - this helps to remind me of that as well. So that’s what I wanted to tell.
Meka Whaitiri (Te Pāti Māori Ikaroa-Rāwhiti candidate):
My personal item that I wanted to bring tonight is actually in this hall and it is on that wall over there. So in ‘83 I was proudly a head girl of this college. So this where I started my journey of leadership, it was actually at this school, and the ability to serve. So I stand here on the shoulders of great people, my father, who taught here, my grandmother, who advocated for Māori rights and of course, Parekura Horomia, who was really loved by the people of Kahungunu. So that is a bit about me, kia ora koutou.
Meka Whaitiri:
Kia ora whānau, thank you for coming out tonight. I love the work that I’ve done. I’ve done this work for 10 years, loyally for the people of Ikaroa-Rāwhiti and also for Labour. But as you know, in Waipatu not far from here I decided to come back to my whakapapa. I served Labour really loyally for 10 years - now I am on a new journey which is unapologetically Māori. I know this electorate, I have served this electorate. But I also have some skills that I think many of us may not know about. And that is about the ability to get things done. We can talk about things or we can do things. I like to get things done. I can’t work by myself which is why I want to acknowledge all the groups that make up the electorate of Ikaroa-Rāwhiti. I have been privileged for the last 10 years to travel up and down this electorate, from Pōtaka in the north right down south to Wainuiomata. This is about delivering to our people. Now that I’m standing for Te Pāti Māori, I am unashamedly Māori because we make up so much of our population here in Aotearoa, but not only that, we have got solutions that lift everybody up. This election I am running a two-tick campaign. I am asking humbly for your candidate vote to go back into Parliament as your member for Ikaroa-Rāwhiti, but I am also running for a party vote. To our Tangata Tiriti in this room, you can also vote Te Pāti Māori.
Ata Tuhakaraina:
To stand up here and say that I’ve always wanted to be a politician - I wasn’t expecting to be standing here today, and statistically as a Māori man in this country I shouldn’t be standing here today. And that is the reason why I am standing here today, because we are riddled with all these negative statistics that us as Māori, not just me but Māori in general, represent. The incarceration rates, domestic violence, also poverty, homelessness and that type of thing. I grew up with all of that and that is why I say I shouldn’t be standing here. So I am not naive to the fact that I am coming up against some really big competition. But I knew that I had to stand here and be some type of light to those who are struggling out there, that they can get up just like I did, and be able to change their lives around and be an example to these people as well. So I am not going to stand up here and rattle off all these amazing policies but I’m just gonna stand up here and shed my heart to you and hopefully that makes an impact on you.
Cushla Tangaere-Manuel: (Arrived 7.10pm due to a tangi)
Kia ora whānau, it is great to be here, aroha mai. You fellas have more red lights on those hills than we do in Gizzy put together. I find myself standing as the Ikaroa-Rāwhiti candidate for Labour because when we needed a candidate at short notice it was a privilege to have been trusted with this candidacy. So I’m standing because as you know, there’s a lot of issues facing us in Ikaroa-Rāwhiti and to be asked to walk with you through this kaupapa is a privilege and a responsibility I take seriously. As I’ve traversed Ikaroa-Rāwhiti in these last three months, there’s been some consistent messages. One is they want someone who’s going to show up, they want someone who’s gonna listen. I’m here to listen and they want someone who’s going to follow through. I’ve got a proven track record of that. That’s why I’ve been trusted with this candidacy. And I’m here to ask for your support to make me your Ikaroa-Rāwhiti MP and two ticks for Labour, kia ora.
Wealth tax, do you say yes or no?
Meka Whaitiri:
Absolutely, 100 per cent, yes.
Ata Tuhakaraina:
Shakes head.
Climate change, is it a problem or not a problem?
Ata Tuhakaraina:
Yes, I think us as a people need to learn a lot more about it because we don’t know too much about it.
Meka Whatiri:
Yes, Papatuanuku is hurting and Māori need to take a leadership role and Māori can take a leadership role, our whenua. So yes, it is a problem but it starts with Māori, and a Māori-led solution.
Aotearoa’s Covid response, was it good or bad?
Meka Whaitiri:
It was good for our Māori people in Aotearoa and our hauora who were able to get vaccinated and keep themselves safe.
Ata Tuhakaraina:
Yeah so I believe that it should have been a choice for us and when I say a choice, I believe we should have had restrictions on those who were to lose employment. Yes, I do believe that we should have had the availability of the vaccine across the motu, however, we shouldn’t be shackled to make that choice to take the vaccine.
Would you be comfortable working with a National-Act government?
Ata Tuhakaraina:
No.
Meka Whaitiri:
No.
What is the best spot in Ikaroa-Rāwhiti for a holiday?
Meka Whaitiri:
Honestly, I am a sea girl, I reckon it would be by the sea and I can go anywhere from Pōrangahau, (inaudible), right up to Māhia, right up to Muriwai and also up the coast. Anywhere on the sea in Ikaroa-Rāwhiti could be a great place for a holiday, But seriously it needs to be somewhere warm and have kai moana so I’d probably go Kairakau.
Ata Tuhakaraina:
Yeah, I spent a lot of time talking about it the other day. Recently a few years ago I spent a nice amount of time out at Waimārama.
Those who dislike co-governance claim that it splits Aotearoa in half, and that it creates separate systems, rights and access to services dependent on race. How does that type of kōrero make you feel?
Ata Tuhakaraina:
If I am being honest, there’s been a lot of confusion and a lot of distraction with co-governance across the motu. It has had a massive divide. You see it with the likes of Julian Batchelor and also those who are protesting outside. It doesn’t mention anything in Te Tiriti about co-governance.
Meka Whaitiri:
Co-governance is really code for Crown running the whole show. And we have had the Crown on the hill for longer than 183 years and yet we are still dying young, highly incarcerated, our kids are in state care, we’re homeless and everything - we shouldn’t be but we are. So Te Pāti Māori absolutely believes it’s time to move those systems aside and bring aboard our own solutions. That’s what Te Pāti Māori’s policies are, they are about empowering ourselves and co-governance is just code for “you get to be at the table, but we run the table, we write the rules”.
How did Cyclone Gabrielle affect you and what have you done since?
Meka Whaitiri:
So I went to go to Parliament, the weather forecast wasn’t good so we had to go down to Parliament. Then of course, Monday morning, I got a phone call from my sister to say it was flooded, can they all evacuate into my home in Whakatu? Of course you say “yes”, but of course, you don’t want to be in Wellington, you want to be able to find them. So I jumped in my car, yes it was an electric car but it was the only car I could get at 7am in the morning, and I shot out and I came home, driving to be home. Once I got home, everybody else had no power, no internet, only a barbecue, I had some food. Then 26 days without stop I was based here in Hawke’s Bay Te Matau a Māui and I did all the marae, I ran kai out to Pōrangahau, I just checked in on all our people. As soon as I could get my flight to Wairoa I left to Wairoa, as soon as I could get a flight to Tokomaru Bay I went to Tokomaru Bay. And then I asked the Government to bring $15 million in to relieve the pressure on marae. It was marae who opened their doors to look after people.
Ata Tuhakaraina:
I wasn’t here, however, there was a call out from one of our members up here who asked for help to come here. So there was about 400 of us that arrived here with the Man Up relief team and for me personally, I was there for about six days. I would have stayed longer, but I did have to go back to mahi and to my whānau. However, I don’t believe the nation actually understood the devastation that was actually here portrayed by the media. Because once I got here it was far more shocking than what I saw on TV. Although it was devastating, I was glad that the Man Up relief were able to go to individual homes out at Waiohiki, Ōmāhu, Eskdale and Pākōwhai. Just being able to arrive to these homes and just seeing the residents, our whānau’s faces changed seeing a massive load of people coming in with shovels and diggers and just smashing the silt out of their houses and all that type of thing, helping with insurance assessors just to get them to have a look. So for me that was us but hey, I know there is still a lot of mahi to go.
What do you think of the national spotlight on Ikaroa-Rāwhiti this time around? How does it make you feel?
Meka Whaitiri:
So a lot of media don’t understand and don’t have a finger on the pulse of Ikaroa-Rāwhiti. When I get asked by media, I have been saying we have actually just come off two years of Covid and then moving into a massive cyclone. And then we’ve got to ask our people “please stand up and vote for me”. I am very sensitive that people are exhausted, people have no homes. One of the jobs I have done is to make sure there is money or pūtea in the kete when our Māori communities are knocking on the Government’s door.
So what do I think about the spotlight? If it encourages some people to be informed and to vote then it is a good thing. If they make judgments about our electorate, I don’t think it is a good thing. People need to be aware of the challenges that we face here in Ikaroa-Rāwhiti. But more importantly, we need to acknowledge the good work that Māori communities are doing leading us through this way whether it is iwi, our hapū, our marae. We just need to make sure Te Pāti Māori hold the Government to account, that pūtea will be left in the kete when our communities are ready.
Ata Tuhakaraina:
You wouldn’t leave a party unless there is something wrong, right? And I don’t believe that she would just stand in Parliament for 10 years for that party and just leave with no reason. I believe there was something deeper than that. Also, I do understand that the words, some very last words spoken about is what I believe in, therefore me personally as a man of faith and as a man who is trying to change the narrative. She should have been congratulated for her mahi she has done in the last 10 years and she should have been wished well on her new journey with Te Pāti Māori.
Audience member:
My question to you is about our health system and how it is being run? It is quite sad - our people need to be more listened to.
Ata Tuhakaraina:
Look, for us as Vision New Zealand and for me personally, we believe in a ground-up solution. That is not just talking about your typical social problems but, you know, finance problems and also our healthcare as well. Being able to educate our whānau from the ground up as opposed to the top down. We have a programme call Man Up and Legacy and that is what we touch on first, to highlight the things that are stopping us from advancing.
Meka Whaitiri:
Kia ora to that question, so the Māori health authority was a Te Pāti Māori kaupapa that Labour picked up. But what is happening with it now, that is the Māori Health Authority, is from our perspective it is not getting properly resourced. It is purely a policy agency. They are not an advisory group, we’ve tried all those approaches for 183 years. Unless we let Māori in the driving seat for management right through the organisation and appropriately resource it, then we’re not going to see the fair health outcomes. But we played around with how are we going to address it, it has to be Māori-led, We just want equal funding so they can deliver a much better product for our people.
Petrol is now close to $3 a litre. How will you and your party ensure that the cost of fuel doesn’t cripple New Zealand whānau?
Meka Whaitiri:
I used to bike to Whakatu. Of course, biking is one of many alternative transports that are fair and cheaper. Te Pāti Māori would make free public transport available for everybody. In terms of the question around petrol, obviously we want to decarbonise so we want to get out of fossil fuels and we want to transition. So we want what we call a $1 billion clean energy fund, Te Pāti Māori’s policy. We want to invest in alternative energy sources, but honestly, electric cars is the only alternative to petrol cars so we have a better subsidy incentivising and encouraging electric cars.
Ata Tuhakaraina:
The prices down in Wellington are about $3.30. There need to be new ideas and new initiatives so if I was to look at lockdown as a time, it obviously wasn’t a great time for us as people because we weren’t able to see whānau and get out to mix and mingle in the community. However we did see with that that our whenua was able to start healing itself over those two weeks. The air was getting clearer, the water was getting clearer and what that was linked to was obviously people were limited with being able to go into the cities and use their cars, that sort of thing. You know, and for me, personally, though it’s not on our policy but it is something that should be looked at you might be able to use it, it’s looking at a space where we promote working from home or remotely. What that will do is obviously reduce traffic into our bigger cities and it will put money back into the pockets of our children. Also we might be able to push jobs into our rural areas.
Overseas investors are buying productive whenua. They’re planting pine trees for carbon credits. What do you think of that? And is there anything that you and your party can do about it?
Ata Tuhakaraina:
We believe in Kiwi land in Kiwi hands. Especially for us as Māori, whenua is sacred to us, we are connected to our whenua and we don’t want anybody else taking our land away from us and making it harder for us. So, I believe] we can actually fund those projects, we can actually move into that space. I truly believe that.
Meka Whaitiri:
Once upon a time we enjoyed 100 per cent care of Aotearoa New Zealand. There is now 5.6 per cent of whenua in Māori hands. So we have given quite a bit for the development of this nation. A couple things - the economic development policy, talks about the formation of a regionally based overseas investment office. At the moment the overseas investment office is one interface which gives approval to buy whenua and whatever they want on the land. So Te Pāti Māori policy is we should be sitting at that table so when decisions on investors coming in occur, so then iwi give the green light. Having said that, I do know that there are whenua Māori owners that are on carbon credits so there is a fine balance. I always believe it has to go back to the landowners in conjunction with their community and their people and what best fits, and what they want to do with this great economic opportunity.
Cushla Tangaere‑Manuel (Labour candidate) arrives:
Audience member:
I’ve got a question for all the candidates. For many it is pertinent to Ikaroa-Rāwhiti. Can we please have more Māori representing Ikaroa-Rāwhiti? We have that opportunity right now to have two Māori MPs for Ikaroa-Rāwhiti. Can we take off our jackets for the party we stand for and stand for Ikaroa-Rāwhiti?
Ata Tuhakaraina:
We were just talking about how massive our region is. Ikaroa-Rāwhiti, I believe it was roughly 10 to 11 hours to drive all the way from Wellington up to Hicks Bay. We need to have a kōrero to get more representation or get more seats into the Māori electorates, for me personally it needs to be done. And yes absolutely if we can get more representation that would be good.
Meka Whaitiri:
Kia ora guys, so two things. The way to get more Māori in Ikaroa-Rāwhiti is for everybody to jump from the general roll and join the Māori roll. The second thing, I’ve joined a movement and that is around returning the Māori seats to Te Pāti Māori. We should never ever have someone else that can speak with us or speak for us. Te Pāti Māori is is 100 per cent unapologetically Māori. We’re not part of a caucus, we are the caucus. We don’t have to line up our priorities with others because we are the priority. So the way to address that is we get all Māori off the general roll onto the Māori roll and take seven Māori electorate seats to potentially 14. It won’t be this election, but it is something to strive for. Kia ora.
Cushla Tangaere‑Manuel:
We have to vote. There is a really good point about representation and we have got an opportunity right now. I’ve elected not to be on the list. I’m running, I’ve been asked to run, and I want to be the elected voice of Ikaroa-Rāwhiti. That is how I want to get in. We’ve got an opportunity to have at least two of us particularly because according to polling, Meka is in.
Audience member:
If you are elected for Ikaroa-Rāwhiti, what will you do for kura kaupapa Māori across the motu?
Cushla Tangaere‑Manuel:
Already Labour has been invested heavily in the physical requirements of kura kaupapa Māori and we will continue to invest in all aspects of Māori tamariki who may not have had the chance. But under a Labour Government, our investment, targeted investment in kaupapa Māori has averaged $1 billion a year. We’re not going to stop there. That’s something that I want to grow on.
Ata Tuhakaraina:
Vision New Zealand also believes in protecting and promoting our culture. There are a lot of people out there who don’t support Māori and for me personally I would like to end that. For kura kaupapa Māori we haven’t got anything in our policy yet specifically for that, but we are definitely for kaupapa Māori across the motu.
Meka Whaitiri:
So Te Pāti Māori supports kura kaupapa, so much - we think the funding for it is not equitable. So we want 25 per cent of the education budget to go to Māori learning and education. It is currently not that. So our kura kaupapa, our Māori immersion schools, our Māori students, are working for others on their future. We always say we should set up our own Māori education authority and that we will take 25 per cent of the budget. And so people always ask me “why 25 per cent?” Well we are actually 20 per cent of the population and 5 per cent is back pay.
Ata, in February, Brian Tamaki gave a sermon about Cyclone Gabrielle. He blamed perversion and high porn use on the East Coast for the disaster. Given that Vision was founded by the Tamaki whānau, do you denounce that kōrero?
Ata Tuhakaraina:
Look, I am not going to speak on his behalf, he is a man of his own action and his own mana. What I will say though is that Brian Tamaki has strong beliefs and his belief, which is Christianity, and throughout the Bible it speaks of certain things that may relate to this type of thing. We were here for over 400 hours a month helping our whānau and he was here himself, but I am not going to speak on his behalf.
To shift parties, Meka you had to give up your role as cyclone lead recovery minister for Hawke’s Bay. Do you feel you let cyclone victims and the region down when you did that?
Meka Whaitiri:
Not at all. I pushed as hard as I could. I will be really clear that the frustration that I’ve had is the Government of the day not leaning in to deliver the outcomes the communities of Te Matau a Māui deserved and needed in a timely manner. And I have lots of examples but I don’t want to bore you with it. But trust me, because I understand how Wellington operates. I was trying to bypass by ensuring ministers made decisions that would force officials to deliver in a timely manner. That did not happen. So it doesn’t mean you stop representing your community. It just means you do it somewhere else. And somewhere else is like Ōmāhu with their recovery plan, it is like Waiohiki and what they want to do in terms of category three. It is getting alongside them and fast-tracking because the process is too slow.
Cushla, the Maori community in Te Matau a Māui has had a Labour MP representing them almost continuously since the 1940s. Can voters expect change from you? Or should they expect more of the same?
Cushla Tangaere‑Manuel:
They can expect more of the same in that Labour’s investments in the area will stay the same and grow. What they can expect differently I suppose is a different personality. My role is to serve all of Ikaroa-Rāwhiti. And I also want to assure you that my whānau, hapū and iwi have been sharing me with Aotearoa all my life, and they are prepared for that now. That’s why they trusted me to be your candidate because they knew that I would walk alongside everyone in Ikaroa-Rāwhiti to make sure that you have a voice.
Meka Whaitiri:
Thank you for coming out today. So Te Pāti Māori and myself, we are running a two-tick campaign. We are proudly Māori. We have a party of the people. We’re here for you. We are answerable to you. The times that other people speak for us are over. We have our own models, we have our own assets and we need to be able to have some trusted voices in Parliament. Who is going to best look out for their future? Te Pāti Māori is going to go 100 per cent. As I have said, we are not left, we are not right, we are up the guts. That is what our people deserve. We will work with anybody but the times that others speak for us, or that we are just one at a table, is over. This is a political movement that is totally different.
Cushla Tangaere‑Manuel:
I am running my campaign on [inaudible] which tells you to master the art of the Pākehā for your physical wellbeing, that’s why you need someone like me in the Whare Pāremata that is going to fight for your housing, fight for you.
No matter where I go, the uniqueness about me is no matter what for a moment, I can’t help but take my Mātauranga Māori with me. That is just who I am. It’s intrinsic in me and you can trust that whatever decisions are being made, I will have the balance of both those worlds. That’s another reason I was asked this, because I can traverse both.
So that’s me in a nutshell whānau. Just be confident that I’m here for you. That’s really why I’m standing. I wasn’t looking for a job in the Beehive. So when I was asked to do that, I’m committed fully to being your voice for Labour so we can continue the investment. And like I said, I’m all in I’m not on the list. In it for you, push for Cush, kia ora whānau.
Ata Tuhakaraina:
As I said earlier, I am aware of the fact that I am coming up against some really strong wāhine so I’m going to take this opportunity to ask these two candidates that they consider putting Man Up back into our prisons. Because I’m a product of Man Up as I said before. Like I said before I shouldn’t be standing here, I should either be incarcerated or living under the breadline. And that’s not to portray anything negative, but it is an opportunity to say that Man Up and Legacy actually works with our whānau because we are there to shine the torch on ourselves not shine a torch to blame anybody else, we are about restoration. So if either of you get into power, I just ask come have a meeting with us. Kia ora.
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