Tokoroa's Kinleith Mill closure is to be decided by the end of the month and politicians and family gather for the final day of Dame Tariana Turia’s tangihanga. Video / NZ Herald
Hīkoi mō te Tiriti organisers are honouring Dame Tariana Turia during her tangi.
Hīkoi mō te Tiriti organisers are asking supporters to join them in honouring their inspiration, Dame Tariana Turia, as her tangihanga enters its third day.
The co-founder of Te Pāti Māori died on Friday and is lying in state at Whangaehu Marae near Whanganuibefore her burial on Tuesday.
Eru Kapa-Kingi, one of the organisers of November’s Hīkoi mō te Tiriti, said he and fellow organisers would be congregating at the marae gates ahead of this morning’s pōwhiri.
Dame Tariana Turia died on Friday after suffering a stroke. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Anyone else wanting to pay their respects should join them, he said.
“We put out a social media announcement ... to put the tonu out there for anyone else who might be looking for an opportunity or an iwi to join to honour whaea Tariana as well as the kaupapa she carried.”
November’s hīkoi in opposition to Act’s Treaty Principles Bill, which culminated in 40,000 people descending on Parliament, was inspired by Turia’s advocacy for Māori rights, Kapa-Kingi said.
Turia is perhaps best known for her split from Labour over the Foreshore and Seabed Act, which led to a protest march on the Beehive in 2004.
She resigned her seat and left the Labour Party before winning the subsequent Te Tau Hauauru byelection and returning to Parliament representing the newly formed Māori Party, as it was then known.
That took courage, Kapa-Kingi said.
“I am absolutely obligated to honour and to pay tribute to our whaea because without her example, without her bravery, there’s no way we could have even imagined the action that we took recently.”
Visitors and dignitaries from around the motu were welcomed onto Whangaehu Marae over the weekend.
The marae opened to the motu on Sunday, with Te Arikinui Kuini Nga wai hono i te po, the Māori Queen, leading manuhiri (visitors) in a pōwhiri in the morning.
Sir Pita Sharples, who co-founded Te Pāti Māori alongside Turia, would arrive today, whānau spokesman Che Wilson said.
