“The call was very strong for me as a Māori and as a nurse,” said Whangārei Māori mental health nurse Tui Manuel, who decided at the last minute to take leave from her job and travel down to join the hīkoi with her husband Michael.
‘As a nursing student, as a tauira, as a Māori, as a human being, as a New Zealander, I was there to awhi, to come out in support and stand against the Treaty Principles Bill.’
NZNO student co-leader Davis Ferguson travelled from Palmerston North with his mum Eileen Farrar-Ferguson
‘Everything is being undone – smoke-free legislation, the Māori Health Authority – they have just pulled apart all our good work over the last couple of years.’
“As a nursing student, as a tauira, as a Māori, as a human being, as a New Zealander, I was there to awhi, to come out in support and stand against the Treaty Principles Bill, and how it would change the foundational document of Aotearoa”.
Ferguson — who is NZNO Te Rūnanga Tauira chair — said as a nursing student he was aware that treating people the same did not lead to fair outcomes.
“In reality we are all at different [places] of advantage and disadvantage.”
Wairarapa primary health nurse practitioner Lucy McLaren — who is also on the NZNO board — told Kaitiaki she decided to come on te hikoi mō te Tiriti “because everything is being undone – smoke-free legislation, the Māori Health Authority – they have just pulled apart all our good work over the last couple of years”.
As well as a professional nurse, McLaren also said she was also personally there as a “wāhine Pākehā” whose great-great-great grandfather was one of the Crown signatories of te Tiriti o Waitangi. “We’ve got to stop screwing around with it.”
The largely peaceful hīkoi which began at Wellington’s Waitangi Park and wended its way through the central city to Parliament, was estimated to be 50,000-plus by unions. The party is continuing at Waitangi Park with a free concert and hangi.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins later challenged Prime Minister Christopher Luxon in the House on his support for the Treaty Principles Bill to first reading, asking if he agreed with former prime minister Dame Jenny Shipley’s warning that politicising the Treaty could “invite civil war”, Stuff has reported.
Luxon firmly rejected the claim, responding, “No, we are not at risk of civil war in New Zealand. That is inflammatory language.”
