Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori MP Oriini Kaipara has spoken about the “resilience of M\u0101ori” in her first ever speech in Parliament.<\/p>\n
Kaipara, a former broadcaster, won the T\u0101maki Makaurau by-election in September.<\/p>\n
About 100 people sat in the public gallery for her maiden speech on Thursday, with lots of kura kaupapa M\u0101ori children in attendance.<\/p>\n
Some had travelled from Auckland, representing Hoani Waititi Marae, Kaipara’s old school and west Auckland community.<\/p>\n
Kaipara spoke in te reo M\u0101ori before switching to English in her speech.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\nTe P\u0101ti M\u0101ori’s Oriini Kaipara on election night.
\nPhoto: RNZ \/ Lillian Hanly\n<\/p>\n
“I’m not going to stand here and tell you about the impacts of colonisation on wh\u0101nau, h\u0101pu, iwi and even on me. That story is well documented. One only has to turn to Hansard to see in plain black and white how this government and past governments have deceived our people.<\/p>\n
“Instead, I will speak of resilience. The resilience of M\u0101ori. The resilience that has carried us through generations of struggle and survivial. The resilience that has shaped me into the woman, the mother, the grandmother and now the member of Parliament who stands here before you today.”<\/p>\n
There were cheers and applause from the public gallery as Kaipara acknowledged herself as the new MP for T\u0101maki Makaurau.<\/p>\n
Much of her speech focused on grassroots M\u0101ori movements and her place in Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori, saying “I covered stories and now I choose to change them”.<\/p>\n
“Te reo M\u0101ori, tikanga, kura kaupapa, kapa haka, the arts, heck even Matariki; none of it survived by accident. It all survived because we fought for it, M\u0101ori and non M\u0101ori alike.<\/p>\n
“When I stand in this House I do so not as a survivor of colonisation who made it in the p\u0101keha system but as the product of M\u0101ori resilience. We are the combination of dreams, of purpose, of hard work and intention. We are here by design. Every single one of us who walks our own reo journey is a beneficiary of the efforts of all those who held and still hold the line for all of us today.”<\/p>\n
Parliament was temporarily suspended after a haka broke out<\/a> in the public gallery following the maiden speech.<\/p>\n Kaipara beat Labour’s Peeni Henare by 3519 votes in the September by-election.<\/p>\n The by-election was held following the death of MP Takutai Tarsh Kemp<\/a>.<\/p>\n