Thousands stream to Waitangi celebrations
Dawn karakia - Maori TVKEY POINTS:
Much should be made of the disruptive woman dragged from the dawn service on the Waitangi Treaty Grounds this morning but for positive reasons.
Instead of leaving malcontents to disrupt and ruin the occasion for others, as has happened in past years, she was dealt with.
The woman, who according to Titewhai Harawira is Samoan, is now banned from such occasions hosted by Nga Puhi. She had been interjecting "teka" or "lies" through many of the largely spiritual offerings and when the interjections turned into continuous invective the Maori wardens moved in and escorted her out.
Prime Minister Helen Clark has fashioned her own Waitangi experience.
And this year's was one of the least controversial. She began the day speaking at a private breakfast where she acknowledged that "the early promise of partnership" when the Treaty of Waitangi was signed 168 years ago had not been fulfilled.
Next was a premier view of the waka paddle-past from on board Hec Busby's double-hulled waka Te Aurere. And she finished it off with photo-ops in a spin around a series of health-oriented stalls in the sportsground at Waitangi before heading south to Auckland for the afternoon.
It's a casual day out and not what most PMs would do to mark their national day but then most PMs have not had the trouble she has had.
In 2002, the last time Helen Clark attended the dawn service at Waitangi, she endured a 20-minute tirade in which she was accused of treason by the "Deputy Prime Minister and Attorney General" in the "Maori Government of Aotearoa".
She was told that according to Maori custom, her crime was punishable by death.
When Clark was eventually invited to speak she was shouted down by a housing activist from Auckland and her contribution lasted a mere 30 seconds. That was as brief as the prayer that National leader John Key rattled through yesterday.
The next year Ethnic Affairs Minister Chris Carter spoke for the Government at the dawn service and caused a minor kerfuffle when he stepped on to the kotahitanga flag lying on the floor which symbolised Maori unity.
Clark returned to Te Tii Marae in 2004 but she and her ministers were jostled and physically threatened.
They were huddled in a tight group and surrounded by police officers trying to get them out safely.
What looked like water bottles were squirted over some of them but when the liquid dripped down the face of one in the group and on to his lips it turned out to be urine.
Maori were seething in 2004 over a couple of issues: it was the year of the Foreshore and Seabed Act and National Party leader Don Brash had just given his Orewa speech on racial separatism. He copped a handful of dirt thrown in his face as he left the marae.
One of the more memorable Waitangi Days was February 6, 1997, when New Zealand First leader and Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters arrived with the MPs who had swept into the Maori seats in the 1996 election and into Government.
It was a powerful image. But within days the Labour Opposition had begun a hatchet job on new MP Tukoroirangi Morgan over expenses at the pilot TV channel Aotearoa TV.
Morgan, now a leading force in Tainui, is important enough to be acknowledged by Clark at Waitangi. It's a strong reminder of how adaptable politicians are when they need to be.
