Sir Mason Durie on Dame Tariana Turia's place in Maoridom

Campaigning for the Maori Party back in 2008. Photo / Kenny Rodger

On the ocasion of Dame Tariana Turia's investiture as a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit by Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy at Putiki Marae on Tuesday, Sir Mason Durie gives a personal assessment.

Few people are able to deal with pressing problems in the present, and at the same time build platforms that will be relevant to the future. Tariana Turia has shown how both are possible.

Well before entering Parliament she fostered community cohesion and community responsiveness to adversity and disadvantage.

She did so in a manner that was to lead strong sustainable leadership within her own whānau, hapu and iwi and which helped generate greater awareness for health and the positive roles communities might play.

Importantly, her approach was always built on the aspirations, and hopes – as well as the woes – of her people. It was never about her but rather about shifting community and human circumstances so that whānau could have more certain futures.

While sensitive and responsive to her own people, Tariana was also firm and up-front with authorities at local and national levels. She would never accept that injustices were to be endured.

She did not believe that an unjust law or policy should be carried into the future. Instead she demanded change to address enduring disadvantage and was to become a fearless champion for the rights of community, whānau, and Māori generally.

As a member of Parliament, her decision to step aside from the Labour Party and to support the establishment of the new Māori Party had far reaching consequences. Her enthusiasm, her vision, and her sense of righting wrongs, became her hallmarks as a co-leader of the new Party.

In that role she showed a remarkable capacity to use political means to address grassroots concerns and to use political know-how to press the right buttons for change. Tariana earned a rightful reputation as a woman who would go where others had faltered or stepped aside to avoid confrontation.

Later, as a Minister of the Crown she was able to introduce polices and programmes that focused on building for the future. Importantly, she saw whānau as key vehicles for Māori wellbeing in the decades ahead.

Moreover, she recognised that focusing only on adversity and disadvantage ran the risk of creating an attitude of despair and a perception of incapacity when was needed was confidence and a determination to succeed.

Whānau Ora will remain synonymous with Minister Turia. The development, implementation, and progression of Whānau Ora would not have occurred without her advocacy, diplomacy, and determination.

She was able to persuade Parliamentary colleagues that change was needed and was able to offer a model for change that has the potential to influence the whole society.

But in addition to Whānau Ora her contribution to social policy across a range of policies has been ground breaking.

Her support for people with disabilities, her concern for children and her efforts to ensure health gains for Māori speak for themselves. Shortly before her retirement from Parliament, as Associate Minister of Health she also launched a refreshed Māori health strategy - Pae Ora – which set out a tripartite approach to health encompassing individuals, whānau and both natural and built environments.

Tariana Turia is a wahine toa; a woman who has opened doors to the future and who has shown selfless leadership over many decades.

*Sir Mason Durie is a professor of Māori studies and research academic at Massey University, and a fellow of the New Zealand College of Psychiatrists.