An estimated 3,000 Māori leaders, tribal representatives and a number of politicians are expected to meet this week, after the Kiingitanga* – the Māori king movement – called for a rare national meeting amid simmering tensions over the new National-led government’s direction for Māori.
Late last year, Kiingi Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII issued the extremely rare royal proclamation asking iwi (tribes) to meet to “unify the nation and ensure all voices are heard when holding the new coalition government to account”.
What is the Kiingitanga and what is its function?
The Kiingitanga was founded in 1858, in an attempt to unite Māori tribes under a single sovereign at a time when the British settler population was increasing, Māori were facing political and material marginalisation, and division was growing between different Māori groups over whether to sell land to the British. The movement’s goals were aimed at preserving Māori culture and land in the face of colonisation.
The Kiingitanga has no legal or judicial power in New Zealand, and while the monarch role is largely ceremonial, it is also considered to be the paramount chief of several iwi. It does not, however, have any affiliation to the some of the key iwi, including Tūhoe, Ngāti Porou and the largest iwi, Ngāpuhi.
“We see the Kiingitanga as [one of] the pre-eminent unifying voices for Māori in New Zealand,” said Charlie Tawhiao, the chair of a Tauranga-based iwi Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Te Rangi Iwi Trust, which has a long relationship with the Kiingitanga.
The Kiingitanga has a long history of trying to affirm mana motuhake – the right to autonomy, or self-determination.
Why has it called a national meeting?
The meeting has been called in the wake of heightening tensions between Māori and the new rightwing government, elected in late 2023.
The coalition government – led by National’s Christopher Luxon and with the populist New Zealand First leader, Winston Peters, and Act party libertarian David Seymour sharing the deputy prime minister role – has announced at least a dozen policies that provide for Māori will be repealed or reviewed. This includes rolling back initiatives designed to improve Māori health outcomes, stopping “race-based” policies, and minimising Māori language use in the public service.
The government has said it will review the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, or Treaty of Waitangi, which upholds Māori rights, including the right to autonomy – a move some critics have called a “modern day confiscation of treaty rights” and part of a wider “anti-Māori” policy direction.
Since the government came into power, multiple iwi have filed urgent claims against the government’s policies in the Waitangi Tribunal – a commission of inquiry for claims brought by Māori against the Crown.
Ngāi Te Rangi is one such iwi hoping to challenge the government’s proposals to minimise the place of te reo Māori [Māori language]. Following the election, some government departments chose to revert to their English names in place of Māori.
“We saw that as the beginning of an attack on the integrity of te reo Māori – and te reo Māori is, of course, essential to our whole sense of identity and being,” Tawhiao said.
Kiingi Tuheitia felt compelled to issue the Te Paki o Matariki – the highest form of royal proclamation – after discussions with other Māori leaders who felt the Crown had a duty to be “a responsible Treaty partner and unify, not divide the nation”.
In a statement, Kiingitanga chief of staff Ngira Simmonds said there was “a lot of unhelpful and divisive rhetoric during the election campaign,” which was being felt by many New Zealanders.
“There’s strong opposition to the government’s statements on the Treaty of Waitangi which could undermine decades of hard-fought justice and equality for our nation,” Simmonds said.
“The purpose of this national hui is for Te Iwi Maaori to gather in our place, with our tikanga, to koorero [speak] and waananga [plan] our future.”
Where will the hui take place and who is attending?
Kiingi Tuheitia is hosting the hui on Saturday at Tūrangawaewae marae – the seat of the Kiingitanga – in Ngāruawāhia in the Waikato region of the North Island.
The proclamation was an open invitation to Māori, including children, and older people. Representatives from iwi, prominent Māori leaders and politicians are expected to attend. Members from the opposition Labour party, Greens and Te Pati Māori (the Māori party) have also confirmed their attendance.
Prime minister Christopher Luxon, who met Kiingi Tuheitia at a previously planned meeting on Monday, will not attend the hui but will send two ministers in his place.
New Zealand First MP and regional development minister Shane Jones, who is not attending, told national broadcaster RNZ he believed the hui would be a “monumental moan session”.
What is the likely outcome of the meeting?
The hui, which will allow anyone to speak and conclude with break-out sessions on particular issues, is about bringing Māori together as a unified force, Tawhiao said.
“I think one of the outcomes [of the hui] will be a better understanding of what the key issues are … in terms of the global effect on us as iwi Māori,” he said.
The hui has come about as a result of what the government is doing, he added, and that has mobilised Māori and other New Zealanders.
“For the Kiingi to call this hui was a good move, because the risk for us as Māori is that many people are inflamed by what the government [is] saying and that would lead to a fractured and largely ineffective response.”
But it is less about reacting to the government, and more about planning for the future, Tawhiao said.
“What we need to achieve is what we have been fighting for all this time, which is mana motuhake, or the recognition of tino rangatiratanga [self-determination], which was promised in te Tiriti o Waitangi.”
*The Kiingitanga movement uses double vowels, in place of macronised vowels.
