THREE KEY FACTS
Barry Soper is Newstalk ZB’s senior political correspondent.
OPINION
Any Māori grievance you could ever think of will be embraced by the hīkoi which is wending its way from the Far North and the deep south to converge on Parliament next Tuesday.
We’re told by the organiser Eru Kapa-Kingi that the Treaty Principles Bill, which is about to receive its first and last debate in Parliament today, is a minor part of the hīkoi. That’s surprising given the large number of placards that are being lugged across the country denigrating the bill.
That’s presumably why the bill’s architect, Act leader David Seymour’s offer to meet Kapa-Kingi was rejected.
Kapa-Kingi says any meeting would be pointless, saying the protesters were not at Seymour’s beck and call or with anyone else who doesn’t have the necessary expertise to lead or facilitate conversation around the Treaty of Waitangi.
The protest organiser says it’s being pushed by the likes of Seymour, and the many ignorant people behind him, who have a lot to say about the Treaty but don’t know a lot about it.
Kapa-Kingi told Newstalk ZB this week that he expects a crowd of a million when they arrive at Parliament!
Yeah right!
The numbers were certainly building though as it crossed the Auckland Harbour Bridge yesterday, bringing peak hour traffic to a standstill, on a day that thousands of students had to get to their end-of-year exams in the city, to name just one of the multitude of engagements that had to be postponed or cancelled.
They lost the argument for many, right there, whatever that argument is.
Trying to find out, from those trudging along the Auckland waterfront under the snarled-up Harbour Bridge, what exactly what their gripe is was met with a frowning, blank stare or a cold shoulder.
One chap, sporting a moko kanohi and also heavily tattooed arms and legs, looked approachable and paused, responding to a kia ora as I posed the question that many have been asking: What specifically are you protesting about and what is it that you want?
Kia ora may have given him a false impression because he asked whether I spoke Māori and when I replied in the negative, he showed he had a good understanding of English, telling me to f*** off, before heading off to Wellington.
Still, it was safer asking him the question than posing it to the King Cobras, patch-wearing gang members who were there showing their solidarity.
If you listen to the Māori Party co-leader Rawiri Waititi, gang members do have a gripe, and no doubt they will also turn up in large numbers to show solidarity.
Waititi said the recent police raids on the Mongies was terrorism, motivated by a racist agenda but was typical of the state’s predatory behaviour. The Māori MP seems to have lost sight of the fact that 28 arrests were made, two possible murders we’re told were avoided, and a haul of methamphetamine, cash, weapons and property were seized.
Waititi was also upset the raids happened where children and women were. Police Minister Mark Mitchell rightly said it wasn’t the police officers who “choose to keep weapons and drugs in the houses”.
This hīkoi is very much the work of the Māori Party with Eru Kapi-Kingi being the son of Te Tai Tokerau’s new MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi who was just two places behind his mum on the party list.
Just to show how politically savvy he is, the Labour leader Chris Hipkins plans to join the hīkoi when it reaches Wellington next Tuesday!
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