Leaders, MPs hail Maori Queen's humility and dignity

Party leaders and individual MPs paid tribute yesterday to Maori Queen Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu.

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said she led her people with grace and would be greatly missed.

"Dame Te Ata's dignity, compassion and warmth inspired respect from all who met her," he said.

"Her sense of unity and the grace with which she expressed her views did an enormous amount to bring Maori and Europeans together."

Maori Affairs Minister Parekura Horomia said she had been a great ambassador who could talk to anyone.

"She had a terrific persona - I never saw her scowl. She had a great humility but she was also very strong and decisive," he said.

Green Party co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons said Dame Te Ata was a public figure and leader of enormous dignity. "While she was a beloved leader to many, Dame Te Ata was a nanny and a mum first and she will be terribly missed by her family."

Pacific Island Affairs Associate Minister Winnie Laban said Dame Te Ata made a huge contribution to communities through her work with the Maori Women's Welfare League.

"As a Maori woman leader she demonstrated how culture and tradition are strengths that provide a sense of identity and can support indigenous people to operate successfully in a modern world," she said.

United Future Party leader Peter Dunne said Dame Te Ata's death was a loss not only to the Kingitanga and Maoridom but all of New Zealand. "Throughout her reign, Dame Te Ata demonstrated the highest qualities of leadership among Maori and among the international dignitaries she charmed so easily and graciously," he said. "She may have been small in stature but her cloak of authority cast a very big shadow."

National Party MP Tau Henare said she had been an iconic figure and many Maori and non-Maori would feel a deep sense of loss.

"Dame Te Ata was a Maori patron, she represented all of us with dignity and grace and stood for everything good about Maoridom," he said.

Labour MP Mita Ririnui said Dame Te Ata's contribution was unmatched by any contemporary or traditional Maori leader.

- NZPA