{"id":271267,"date":"2026-02-06T21:22:23","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T21:22:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/271267\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T21:22:23","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T21:22:23","slug":"anger-gives-way-to-confidence-ennui-at-waitangi-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/271267\/","title":{"rendered":"Anger gives way to confidence, ennui at Waitangi 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was the year of making good in the new abnormal. \u201cAcclimatising\u201d, one of the north\u2019s most revered leaders said to me, describing M\u0101ori-Crown relations in the third year of the coalition Government. <\/p>\n

It was the year of Waitangi as a gravitational force \u2013 so many different groups pulled into its orbit. <\/p>\n

It was the year the Prime Minister returned. When Aperahama Edwards welcomed Christopher Luxon and his Ministers to the National Iwi Chairs Forum, there were moments when the Nats looked like Americans trying to understand cricket. But the Wednesday, in particular, went better than many people had expected. <\/p>\n

\"Aperahama<\/p>\n

Aperahama Edwards, far right, speaks as Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, seated third from left, looks on. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

Of course, this is all in the eye of the beholder. The PM asserted “it was incredibly positive”. Bayden Barber, the chairman of Ng\u0101ti Kahungunu, told 1News, “it\u2019s election year, and they\u2019ve got very slick lines coming out of their mouths.\u201d But Luxon\u2019s return did mean the vacuum his absence left last year wasn\u2019t filled by David Seymour. “Incredibly positive” may be over-egging it, but it felt less like it was about to burst. <\/p>\n

John Campbell\u2019s tour of the historic Waitangi Treaty Grounds – Watch on TVNZ+<\/a><\/p>\n

It was the year of Labour\u2019s Peeni Henare announcing he was leaving<\/a>. And the year of no-one really understanding why. (Even with NZ First deputy leader Shanes Jones playing Inspector Clouseau.) <\/p>\n

As an aside, Labour keeps losing senior M\u0101ori MPs: Henare, Adrian Rurawhe, Nanaia Mahuta, Kelvin Davis, Kiritapu Allan \u2013 all gone (or about to go) in the past three years. Sure, there\u2019s been some misadventure in there, plus the swing to Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori in 2023, but Labour\u2019s relationship with M\u0101ori may actually require Labour to have more M\u0101ori in senior caucus positions. He t\u0101ngata.<\/p>\n

It was the year of Mariameno Kapa-Kingi asserting her right to not leave<\/a>. Waitangi is in her Te Tai Tokerau\u202felectorate. Having been expelled from Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori<\/a> and appealed that expulsion<\/a> in court, the contest for her electorate looms as one of the most compelling individual stories in this year\u2019s election. If Labour put up Willow-Jean Prime\u202fand the Greens put up H\u016bhana Lyndon (Ng\u0101tiwai, Ng\u0101ti Hine)\u202fthat contest will be a humdinger. (All the M\u0101ori electorates look varying degrees of wow!) <\/p>\n

It was the year of Labour and the Greens being seen out together. Chris Hipkins affected a kind of “we do this all the time” air. They don\u2019t. Labour have never given the Greens a seat inside Cabinet. Marama Davidson and Chl\u00f6e Swarbrick were good sports \u2013 playing along without discernibly (and I apologise for this) turning green. Later, when asked on TVNZ’s Breakfast whether Labour could work in a coalition with the Greens, Hipkins wouldn\u2019t say a clear “yes”. Labour \u2013 fair weather friends in a time of climate change.<\/p>\n

It was the year of smaller crowds who seemed to have travelled further. Buses and minibuses arrived from throughout Te Ika-a-M\u0101ui (the North Island). They were everywhere, almost impossibly crammed into spaces too small for so many of them. I met people who\u2019d bussed from Taranaki and Hawke\u2019s Bay, over 10 hours away; from Masterton, after braving a 12-hour journey; from Tauranga; and from T\u0101maki Makaurau (as nearly everyone at Waitangi calls our largest city). <\/p>\n

\"Some<\/p>\n

Some of the many, many buses. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

It was the year of extraordinary oratory, which no-one admits is competitive, but is competitive. Sometimes, when the best speakers are in full flight, it feels like even the sparrows in the p\u014dhutukawa have stopped to listen. <\/p>\n

It was the year of mana motuhake (autonomy, self-determination) manifesting itself in balance sheets. The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) estimates the “M\u0101ori asset base” was at somewhere in the region of $126 billion in 2023. This is complex because assets aren\u2019t cash. But something is happening, fast. The Kotahitanga Fund, for example \u2013 a M\u0101ori-led investment platform announced late last year by Te Arikinui Kuini Nga wai hono i te po, the M\u0101ori Queen<\/a> \u2013 is electric with expressions of interest. <\/p>\n

During its launch, the Ku\u012bni called it a “declaration” that M\u0101ori are ready to invest in “ourselves, in our brilliance, and in the future we choose”. <\/p>\n

Yes. <\/p>\n

That mode, that felt and articulated belief, that palpable sense of possibility, was as evident at this Waitangi as almost any I can remember. And that made Waitangi 2026 feel different. <\/p>\n

But that\u2019s not the whole picture. <\/p>\n

There was a kind of ennui evident, too. The most curious thing when Seymour was speaking wasn\u2019t that people were as angry as they were in 2025<\/a>, it\u2019s that they weren\u2019t. Not nearly as many people. They just seemed over it. <\/p>\n

Moment David Seymour\u2019s Waitangi dawn service address disrupted \u2013 Watch on TVNZ+<\/a><\/p>\n

It was the year of Waitangi feeling two-toned. <\/p>\n

To a greater extent than I can recall, both confidence and exhaustion took the Crown out of the picture. The Government and its various agencies were there, of course. And there were moments when they were intensely, heatedly under the spotlight<\/a>. But that historic binary framing felt inadequate to accommodate the breadth of it all. <\/p>\n

\"Green<\/p>\n

Green Party co-leaders Marama Davidson and Chl\u00f6e Swarbrick hold a media conference at Waitangi. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

Trying to make sense of it, I phoned documentary maker Whatanui Flavell, whose admired and immersive work has seen him up close at Waitangi, on the H\u012bkoi m\u014d te Tiriti, at Ihum\u0101tao, and on it goes. <\/p>\n

“What\u2019s different this year, Whatanui?” I asked.<\/p>\n

“For some people, I think it\u2019s fatigue. And sadness,” he replied.<\/p>\n

After 2024, after the hikoi<\/a>, after last Waitangi, people are spent. <\/p>\n

And the unity of recent years, which was a nourishing and galvanising force, has been fractured by what many in the north, in particular, regard as the devastating split within Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori<\/a>. <\/p>\n

“I think that\u2019s why fewer people went this year.”<\/p>\n

Protesters face off with security as politicians welcomed at Waitangi \u2013 Watch on TVNZ+<\/a><\/p>\n

Yes. <\/p>\n

But also, at the time, the balance sheets. <\/p>\n

Of course, the H\u012bkoi m\u014d te Tiriti (2024\u2019s Toit\u016b te Tiriti hikoi), which Flavell has documented, was a youth-led movement arising predominantly out of the north. (And the biggest northern iwi, Ng\u0101puhi, has yet to settle with the Crown<\/a>.) While the balance sheet, mana motuhake iwi, Tainui and Ng\u0101i Tahu in particular, settled with the Crown in the 1990s. <\/p>\n

This is simplistic. And few things involving groups of people are that clear-cut. But in broad terms, it speaks to how the 2026 Waitangi could contain M\u0101ori fatigue and M\u0101ori confidence at the same time. <\/p>\n

Different stages of the same response. <\/p>\n

\"Dot<\/p>\n

Dot Tunstall-Ashley has been going to Waitangi for decades. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

Walking down the Treaty Grounds on Thursday afternoon, I made a new friend, Dot Tunstall-Ashley. <\/p>\n

Dot and I clicked immediately. When she laughed, I felt like everything was going to be OK. <\/p>\n

I asked her how long she\u2019d been coming to Waitangi. Roughly 25 years. Because Te Tiriti matters. <\/p>\n

What\u2019s changed in that time? <\/p>\n

“Well, one thing is my shirt. Twenty-five years ago, I started on the kaupapa and it was a size small, then I take off to a size medium, then size large, and here we are at a 2XL. So, for 25 years I have been growing. And that\u2019s how it\u2019s been. Boots and all.\u201d <\/p>\n

And if you\u2019re boots and all, sometimes the issue is how to fit it all in? <\/p>\n

It was the year of boots and all and 2XL.<\/p>\n

None of this is easy. And it\u2019s not homogenous, either. We sometimes seek to describe M\u0101ori politics as a singularity. And in recent years there has been a striking unity. But that\u2019s not quite the same thing. And it doesn\u2019t speak to the difference in iwi circumstance. <\/p>\n

Early on Wednesday morning, as I was heading up to the Treaty grounds to go on Breakfast, I met someone out walking who has a deep knowledge of his iwi\u2019s finances. <\/p>\n

“Tell David Seymour he\u2019s too late to stop us,” he said, chuckling with delight.<\/p>\n

That person wasn\u2019t Ng\u0101i Tahu, but Ng\u0101i Tahu know about settlements. <\/p>\n

And it was the year of Ng\u0101i Tahu \u2013 rare visitors to Waitangi \u2013 arriving from the south whose presence signalled it was also the year of kotahitanga. Again. <\/p>\n

The k word. <\/p>\n

Kiingi T\u016bheitia\u2019s now famous speech<\/a> has simply not stopped circling in the air above M\u0101ori strategising since he delivered it in January 2024. <\/p>\n

“We should use this time to build kotahitanga,” the Kiingi said at Turangawaewae two years ago. “Today is about kotahitanga. We need to be united first and then decide our future.”<\/p>\n

The M\u0101ori King said he had received calls from all over the world regarding the national hui and that indigenous nations were supporting the cause. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

“We were there,” Ng\u0101i Tahu\u2019s Edward Ellison told me. “We heard him.”<\/p>\n

To say that Ng\u0101i Tahu don\u2019t often attend Waitangi, as opposed to commemorating it at home in various parts of the South Island, is to suggest they attend it at all. <\/p>\n

I asked Ellison, one of the almost beloved negotiators of Ng\u0101i Tahu\u2019s remarkable and transformative Treaty settlement with Jim Bolger\u2019s National government back in the 1990s, when he last attended Waitangi on February 6. <\/p>\n

“Never” was his reply.<\/p>\n

\"Edward<\/p>\n

Edward Ellison of \u014ct\u0101kou and Ng\u0101i Tahu. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

This is a man whose understanding of, and successful experience in, M\u0101ori-Crown relations is as meaningful as almost anyone\u2019s alive. For him, Waitangi hasn\u2019t been about the place but the Treaty itself. <\/p>\n

And now? <\/p>\n

“The call from Kiingi Tuheitia\u2019s in relation to the headwinds we are facing around the Treaty has made us think, contemplate our roots, our connections, and our relationship to the Treaty and to its birthplace and so we thought it very important to make the move.”<\/p>\n

North they came. <\/p>\n

Last year, not entirely without the obligations of manaakitanga, Ng\u0101i Tahu found themselves hosting the PM in Akaroa. <\/p>\n

That the iwi came to Waitangi this year may not be entirely unrelated, although Ng\u0101i Tahu are far too diplomatic to say so. <\/p>\n

I asked Ellison about Luxon. <\/p>\n

“His vision needs to be broader than it currently is. It\u2019s very narrow. It\u2019s not inclusive. It\u2019s creating division, and that is not the way forward for New Zealand. We\u2019re not built on that basis.”<\/p>\n

And in 1840, a future on a better basis was the promise of Te Tiriti \u2013 500 M\u0101ori chiefs signed the M\u0101ori language version, only 39 signed the problematically different English version.<\/p>\n

And here we are, 186 years on, still wrestling with honouring an agreement the Crown repeatedly promised to honour. <\/p>\n

\"Eru<\/p>\n

Eru Kapa-Kingi. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

“This Government has stabbed us in the front,” Eru Kapa-Kingi declared, in one of those speeches that starts spreading out through social media even before it\u2019s over. <\/p>\n

Remember, Kapa-Kingi was one of the organisers, and perhaps the lead organiser of the Toit\u016b te Tiriti hikoi<\/a>, with its extraordinary conclusion in Wellington, in which 40-50,000 people marched on Parliament in opposition to the Treaty Principles Bill. <\/p>\n

His capacity to mobilise is proven. <\/p>\n

Not long after he spoke, I put his description of being stabbed in the front to Luxon. And I suggested that many of the young people who follow Kapa-Kingi on social media, and who went on the hikoi, may feel the same way. <\/p>\n

What does the PM say to them? <\/p>\n

\"Prime<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his ministers address reporters at Waitangi. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

“That\u2019s what we\u2019re actually working incredibly hard to do,” the PM replied. <\/p>\n

“If the young people here actually see a future in New Zealand they can participate in it. And if they actually get involved in the political process as well and help contribute to it… that\u2019s great. <\/p>\n

“What\u2019s the best that we can do for young people when we\u2019ve had the same conversation over and over and over for the last 50 years, under successive governments of different colours? Have we actually achieved results and outcomes for them? And the short answer is ‘no, not enough’. <\/p>\n

“And so that\u2019s why we\u2019ve got to set them up much better, with better education, and better health outcomes, and safer communities, and more economic opportunity for everybody.”<\/p>\n

Is that answer persuasive? Yes, said the National caucus, who nodded in enthusiastic agreement while surrounding their boss as he spoke. <\/p>\n

But at Waitangi? To the young M\u0101ori leaders emerging out of the fatigue, sadness, anger, hope, determination, and pride that\u2019s all somehow beating in a giant heart under a 2XL shirt? <\/p>\n

Sometimes, during the official periods at Waitangi, I just drift. You know whether speeches are working by watching the reactions they receive. And it was while doing this, that I bumped into Te Rawhitiroa Bosch. <\/p>\n

\"Te<\/p>\n

Te Rawhitiroa Bosch of Ng\u0101puhi and Ng\u0101ti Kahu. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

That photo of him is by me, by the way. It\u2019s taken on my phone. Clearly, this is ridiculous. There haven\u2019t been many people who\u2019ve photographed Waitangi as well as Bosch since the great Gil Hanly and John Miller. But, you know, God loves a trier.<\/p>\n

Anyway, Bosch has pointed his lens at so much of what\u2019s happened in and around the blooming of young leadership in M\u0101oridom, particularly in the north. Indeed, he\u2019s part of that blossoming. <\/p>\n

“What I\u2019m really loving seeing”, he tells me, “is my generation starting to move into those spaces of influence, those spaces of responsibility. It\u2019s really cool to see our elders, our kaumatua and kuia supporting that next generation coming through and us realising that we\u2019re the adults now.”<\/p>\n

So, is he excited or fatigued? <\/p>\n

At times like these, maybe you can be both? <\/p>\n

“The Government need to sharpen up, eh? They\u2019re not even trying.<\/p>\n

“So, there\u2019s still that stuff we\u2019ve got to deal with. And we do have to deal with it. We\u2019re still not living up to the promise of Te Tiriti. So, it\u2019s not to ignore what\u2019s going on, because we still need address that and we need address it head-on. But also, let\u2019s not spend all our time fighting. Let\u2019s also be planting seeds.\u201d <\/p>\n

It was the year of seeds. <\/p>\n

In leadership terms, what does that mean? <\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t want the hikoi to just be against something, we wanted it to be for something. For kotahitanga, for tino rangatiratanga, for mana motuhake, for standing in our power, for standing in our beauty, in our joy, and all those things.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"Student<\/p>\n

Student volunteers from throughout the North Island. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

Circles. <\/p>\n

Remember what Kiingi T\u016bheitia said in 2024? <\/p>\n

\u201cJust be M\u0101ori. Be M\u0101ori all day, every day. We are here. We are strong.\u201d <\/p>\n

And his daughter, the new Kuini, talking of investing in “ourselves, in our brilliance, and in the future we choose”. <\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Treaty Grounds from the east at 5.30am on Waitangi Day. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

Waitangi morning passed without much incident. It was a beautiful morning. Similar, if we are to rely on William Colenso\u2019s reports, to the morning of February 6, 1840, on which Te Tiriti was signed. <\/p>\n

The crowd was smaller this year than last, and smaller last year than in 2024, the year the Treaty Principles Bill year galvanised an entire movement. <\/p>\n

But the people who came still experienced the magic of walking up the hill in the dark, then finding themselves, hushed and wide-eyed, surrounded by other New Zealanders as the sun rises out of the Pacific Ocean to reveal they\u2019re standing in exactly the same place the very first chief signed the Treaty 186 years ago. <\/p>\n

That first chief\u2019s name, by the way, was H\u014dne Heke P\u014dkai. Within four years he felt so betrayed by the promises he\u2019d been given not being kept, that he was chopping down the British flag. <\/p>\n

It’s been a long-time chopping. <\/p>\n

Some of my TVNZ colleagues and I were sharing a car. And not having it and not wanting to be a nuisance by asking anyone to come get me, I hitched a ride into Paihia. <\/p>\n

Kiri Leach picked me up. <\/p>\n

\"Kiri<\/p>\n

Kiri Leach. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

If you look at the photo and think Leach looks kind, that\u2019s exactly what she was like. The bridge was closed, so we went the long way, via the Haruru Falls Rd. <\/p>\n

Although she’s from Wh\u0101ng\u0101r\u0101-mai-i-Tawhiti, north of Gisborne, on the East Coast, she works for Te Kahu o Taonui \u2013 the Te Tai Tokerau Iwi Chairs Collective, which is very much of the north. <\/p>\n

She and a friend also created Whare Hau Tut\u016b, a kaupapa M\u0101ori vision “grounded in whanaungatanga” (relationships, kinship) to provide safe spaces for adults to go and make art, as expression, as therapy, as a release, as joy, as time out. <\/p>\n

What a lovely driver she was. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy mum\u2019s P\u0101keh\u0101 and my dad\u2019s M\u0101ori.\u201d <\/p>\n

You\u2019re a Tiriti baby? <\/p>\n

“I am! I am!”<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the Treaty mean to you? <\/p>\n

“Good relationships with each other. Kindness. And living together.”<\/p>\n

It was the year of fitting everything you can into a 2XL shirt. Boots and all. Fatigue. Sadness. Anger. Confusion. Politics. Mana motuhake. Kindness. Hope. Beauty. Seeds. <\/p>\n

We drove along the coast to Paihia. It was warm and sunny, just as it was 186 years ago. <\/p>\n

Leach talked about her children and grandchildren. More Tiriti babies. Her face was alive with light. <\/p>\n

“The Treaty was a way to live together, you know? To find a way to live together. And there\u2019s nothing stopping us doing that still. With aroha, right? Just give it a go, you know? Get out of your box and give it a go.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was the year of making good in the new abnormal. \u201cAcclimatising\u201d, one of the north\u2019s most revered…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":271268,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,4432,43,40,38,41,39,27704],"class_list":["post-271267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-maori-issues","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-waitangi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=271267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271267\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/271268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=271267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=271267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=271267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}