Kaiwhakahaere Kerri Nuku said among the union’s membership are thousands of Māori nurses who would have been feeling a deep loss this morning, after finding out about his death.
“Like all nurses, Māori nurses will be doing their mahi today but their day would have started with a deep sadness because they’ve lost a leader,” Nuku said.
“Kiingi Tuheitia stood for all the values and aspirations that our Māori nurses have been fighting for which in essence is – love the people, care for them and the nation.
“Our hearts are with his wife Makau Ariki, their children, the Kiingitanga movement and all of Waikato Tainui.”
Kingii Tuheitia and the Kiingitanga movement promoted alternatives to a health system not working for Māori, Nuku said.
“Going right back to the days of Te Puea Hērangi, about 100 years ago, the Kiingitanga have been trying to tell the powers that be that there are other ways to improve the health and wellbeing of their people. And that way is Mana Motuhake.”
In 2006, a scholarship programme for Waikato Tainui descendants studying nursing was established in the name of Kiingi Tuheitia’s late mother, Dame Te Ātairangikaahu.