Protest over Māori identity: This is just the beginning, Ngāti Kahungunu says at Hastings gathering

Ngāti Kahungunu is hurting, and a protest in Hastings is the beginning of a mobilisation that will be a “marathon”, its chairman Bayden Barber told a crowd of 300 on Tuesday morning.

The protest, one of many across the North Island, was planned against Government policies labelled “anti-Māori” and was signalled by Te Pāti Māori.

While many of the protests were based at traffic choke points around New Zealand cities, the pedestrianised square at Hastings Clocktower was chosen for Hawke’s Bay’s protest, meaning disruption was limited and korero could be done largely without megaphones.

Te Ōtane Huata leads the protest at the Hastings Clocktower on Tuesday. Photo / Warren Buckland

Leading the protest, which was predominately spoken in te reo, were Te Ōtane Huata, Barber, kaumatua Jerry Hapuku and other Kahungunu dignitaries, which included a passionate speech by the iwi’s departing language-revitalisation campaigner Jeremy Tātere Macleod.

Banners and Tino Rangatiratanga flags were common, while Huata wore a Palestine flag while speaking.

Barber told the crowd that everyone present was a descendant of the Treaty of Waitangi, but the Government wanted to “take us back to days of pre-Treaty of Waitangi”.

He said it was frustrating that the Government appeared to be taking away Māori names from its departments and that the Māori Health Authority was at risk.

Children hold signs at the protest over the Government's marginalisation of Māori language and health. Photo / Warren Buckland

“We’re all about standing up for our people and this is the start of the campaign.

“We’ve got three years of this Government and so for the next three years, we need to plan, we need to work out how we are going to get our message out.

“This is one way of doing it, but this is not a sprint, this is a marathon.”

Bayden Barber address the crowd. Photo / Warren Buckland