"Toitu" means to remain undisturbed and whole. “Toitu te Tiriti’ is the refrain based on the call for unity, or kotahitanga, that has come from three political major hui held so far this year.
The hui at Ratana and Turangawaewae brought Māori together to determine the nature of the Māori political response to the new government. That response was founded on unity. "Toitu te Tiriti" was the Māori-led call for all our treaty partners to unify on Waitangi Day.
It was beautiful to seePākehā from all over the motu do just that. At Waitangi, an estimated 80,000 people flooded the lower and upper marae. Dunedin was also exceptional with 1500 people in a celebration of unity as much as in opposition to bad policy.
That this was Māori-led and Pākehā-supported is really important. We live in a multicultural community that is moving towards a full recognition of te Tiriti. We saw that multicultural representation on Waitangi Day, with different iwi and different Pākehā communities showing their support and solidarity.
The only people who did not come to the unity party was the government. In a odd mix of obstinancy and hesitancy, the three coalition leaders seemed stiff and impassive at Waitangi.
The resounding critique of the coalition government is that despite constantly talking about wanting a conversation about constitutional matters and the role of te Tiriti, they all seemed very unwilling to actually converse.
David Seymour kept up with the moral outrage at the idea of Māori people having their interests protected by the law. However, it was 20-year-old rhetoric recycled from Don Brash, so of little relevance. He is photogenic though, and there are already many social media memes of his presence on the marae. Good on him for turning up and showing his face to his own people.
As for the Prime Minister, if his advisers had sent a cardboard cutout and a 2023 tape recording we might have had more interest. It would have been a unique form of contemporary political performance art.
Maybe they decided against it when they heard about the beautiful performance work of renowned artist Tame Iti. Watching 500 people walk silently on to the Treaty grounds carrying white flags sends shivers down the spine. Surely this artwork, unique in every way, deserved some response.
As it was, Luxon did not deliver. He missed the chance to talk with the people. They were there to hear him be direct and heartfelt, as is normal in a whaikōrero. He missed the chance to respond more widely to the concerns expressed to him at the iwi leaders’ forum. He missed the chance to lead his two deputies and to model how to govern for the whole country and not a small minority. He was passive and docile.
If this is his leadership style we can expect little from him over the coming three years. He does not have a strong hand when crafting a political response to difficult circumstances. His instinct appears to be to retreat.
So be it. His own people will tire of him in due course. As the government struggles to deliver on its promises, he will leave his ministers hanging.
It does not bode well for long leadership.
In the meantime, Māori and Pākehā committed to kotahitanga will build on our past successes. The work to shape our multicultural nation founded on te Tiriti continues and gets stronger.
We are all emboldened tolive full Māori lives, speak te reo, send our kids to kohanga and kura. As Pita Tipene, chairman of the Waitangi National Trust, said at the dawn service, we just keep our eye on the horizon and keep moving forward.
■Metiria Stanton Turei is a law lecturer at the University of Otago and a former Green Party MP and co-leader.
