{"id":618362,"date":"2026-10-02T10:42:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T10:42:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/618362\/"},"modified":"2026-10-02T10:42:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T10:42:10","slug":"adrian-rurawhe-tangi-politicians-iwi-leaders-and-the-maori-queen-mourn-a-man-of-real-dignity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/618362\/","title":{"rendered":"Adrian Rurawhe tangi: Politicians, iwi leaders and the M\u0101ori Queen mourn a man of \u2018real dignity\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

In his final speech as a politician, Rurawhe said he had wanted to leave quietly but his colleagues had insisted he at least give a valedictory speech<\/a>. He used that speech to thank the scores of people, each by name, who had worked for him or helped him in his electorate of Te Tai Hau\u0101uru, which he held for almost a decade, and as he rose to become Speaker of the House. <\/p>\n

K\u012bngitanga spokesman Rahui Papa told the Herald the R\u0101tana Church, for which Rurawhe was a stalwart follower, and the K\u012bngitanga were close. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe were always together. [Rurawhe] wasn\u2019t one of those ones who would get up on the marae or talk to the press, but he would do his mahi in the background.\u201d <\/p>\n

Papa said the K\u012bngitanga told Rurawhe as he entered Parliament that \u201cwe can\u2019t see the dog in you\u201d, questioning whether he had the combativeness to succeed in an environment that often thrives off such behaviour. <\/p>\n

Labour\u2019s Te Tai Hau\u0101uru candidate in this year\u2019s election, Te P\u016boho K\u0101tene, said Rurawhe went on to prove that people did not have to become hard, loud or combative to be an influential politician. <\/p>\n

\"Labour\u2019sLabour\u2019s Te Tai Hau\u0101uru candidate Te P\u016boho K\u0101tene speaks at the tangi. Photo \/ RNZ<\/p>\n

K\u0101tene, who is contesting the seat against incumbent and Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and National\u2019s Coral Raukawa, said he aimed to serve as a political leader with the same grace as Rurawhe. <\/p>\n

Rurawhe was remembered as a man who was at times underrated but had commanded almost universal respect for his oratory and conduct in the House. He was a beautiful, kind and gentle leader who had staunchly advocated for kaupapa M\u0101ori causes. <\/p>\n

Hipkins, who had changed his campaign schedule to attend the tangi, said he witnessed Rurawhe raise his voice once in Parliament while Speaker in the Labour Government\u2019s last term. It was in response to former National MP Jami-Lee Ross \u201ccausing a bit of trouble\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw Adrian gesture to him to sit down. Jami-Lee Ross was just ignoring him. At a force I had never heard before, and have never heard since, Adrian yelled at him, \u2018e noho!\u2019 <\/p>\n

\u201cJami-Lee Ross was absolutely stunned and he stood there for a minute and sat down. Adrian said afterwards, \u2018Well he wasn\u2019t listening to me in English, so I thought I would see how te reo M\u0101ori went\u2019, and then he giggled and walked off.<\/p>\n

\"AdrianAdrian Rurawhe was Speaker during the Labour Government’s last term. Photo \/ Mark Mitchell<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is the only time I have ever seen him raise his voice in Parliament because for all of the rest of the time, he had this amazing ability just to look at you and you would know whether or not you were doing the right thing.\u201d <\/p>\n

Hipkins said a few months ago the party had farewelled him from Parliament. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe did not indicate to us that he was unwell. He did not indicate to us until only the last few days, for many of us, that he had been unwell. But I think that is a testament to the sort of personality he was \u2013 he didn\u2019t want to burden anybody else with struggles, he didn\u2019t want anybody else fussing over him.\u201d <\/p>\n

Former Labour MP Poto Williams was in the House during Rurawhe\u2019s rare moment of raising his voice. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just brilliant. He was generous and he was respectful and he was all of those things, but when he needed to draw attention he had the capacity,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all listened, and we all sat down. It was the ultimate kind of teacher moment.\u201d <\/p>\n

There were tears and ringing cries of karanga from women in pare kawakawa at the tangi, but there were also lots of jokes from the speakers \u2013 often MPs recounting the times Rurawhe had thrown them out of the House. <\/p>\n

\"SpeakerSpeaker of the House Gerry Brownlee spoke of Adrian Rurawhe’s legacy at the tangi. Photo \/ RNZ<\/p>\n

Speaker Gerry Brownlee said Rurawhe had made a \u201csignificant impact\u201d on most of the political lives of the MPs who had met him. Addressing Rurawhe directly, Brownlee thanked him for \u201ceverything he has left as his legacy on the Parliament of New Zealand\u201d. <\/p>\n

That legacy included the two pou that stand outside Parliament, which had been Rurawhe\u2019s initiative.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone has said he had that gentle nature, that firm nature \u2013 the truth is \u2013 sitting in the chair [when he was Speaker] he was able to use his temperament and his gentle persona to terrify people. <\/p>\n

\u201cA number of times I took Points of Order [a motion in Parliament to question conduct or proceedings in the House] that I thought were very important and Adrian would sit there [as Speaker] with a smile on this face just looking at you, which basically meant \u2013 sit down you idiot. That gentle authority, I think, brought to Parliament a dignity that has been a challenge to maintain.\u201d <\/p>\n

Former Labour MP Aupito William Sio said Rurawhe was a \u201cgood friend and a gentle giant\u201d. The pair ran what they called \u201cthe Jasmine club\u201d, a social club for their colleagues who wanted a break from Parliament, usually over a Chinese meal with a beer or whisky on the side.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had this silent mana about him \u2013 he wasn\u2019t loud, but you always knew he was present,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cParliament can change people, but it never changed him every though he reached the highest position in Parliament \u2013 becoming the Speaker. It never changed him.\u201d <\/p>\n

MP Willow-Jean Prime, visibly emotional after the tangi, said she was proud of Rurawhe, who had become the second M\u0101ori Speaker of the House. <\/p>\n

\u201cHis wh\u0101nau asked me as a relation of his in Te Tai Tokerau on his Rudolph \/ Rurawhe whakapapa to place the k\u0101kahu around his shoulders and that\u2019s the k\u0101kahu he wore in Parliament whenever he was in the speaker\u2019s chair,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a huge honour and privilege from me from his shoulders. We are all so proud of Adrian.\u201d <\/p>\n

Julia Gabel is a Wellington-based political reporter. She joined the Herald in 2020 and has most recently focused on data journalism. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In his final speech as a politician, Rurawhe said he had wanted to leave quietly but his colleagues…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":618363,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[50503,95,8212,2852,4731,107399,2550,5904,50521,26477,5158,2720,57387,111,43,139,69,1118,18481,3366,6115,303239,58366,223,4524],"class_list":["post-618362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-adrian","tag-and","tag-anyone","tag-burden","tag-days","tag-dignity","tag-even","tag-final","tag-iwi","tag-leaders","tag-man","tag-mori","tag-mourn","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-politicians","tag-queen","tag-real","tag-rurawhe","tag-tangi","tag-the","tag-want"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618362","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=618362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618362\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/618363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=618362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=618362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=618362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}