Hon Te Ururoa Flavell

Minita Whanaketanga Māori

Minister for Māori Development

29 February 2016

Honouring a revolutionary of our time

E te hikuroa taniwha o te whawhai mutunga kore: takoto mai, takoto mai rā! Kei te mōteatea te ngākau, kei te heke ngā roimata me te hūpē. E te rangatira, okioki atu rā ki te ukaipō o ō tīpuna.

Māori Development Minister, Te Ururoa Flavell joins the nation and Te Whakatōhea in mourning the passing of Dr Ranginui Walker.

“He spent his working life raising the consciousness of this nation.

“With his relentless research and sharp mind, he was able to articulate the wrongs of the past and champion a new way forward,” says Mr Flavell.

Dr Ranginui Walker was a leading academic on Te Tiriti o Waitangi and Māori rights. He has been a prodigious writer, penning six books including the landmark publication “Ka Whawhai Tonu Mātou: Struggle Without End”, which documented the fight by Māori for justice and self-determination.

“We owe him a huge debt of gratitude for his prolific written record of contemporary Māori history.”

As a lecturer in Anthropology at the University of Auckland in the late 1960s and 1970s, he had a profound influence on thousands of students, including Mr Flavell.

“I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Ranginui for the impact he’s had on the course of my life. He was one of the few commentators of his time to put the injustices Māori had suffered in a way that both Māori and Pākehā could understand.

“His knowledge of our country’s history was phenomenal,” he says.
Dr Walker was politically active in the Auckland District Māori Council (1969-1990) and a strong supporter of the Māori activist group Ngā Tama Toa in the 1970s.

“He was fearless and often controversial. His messages ruffled feathers but few could argue with his rigorous research and knowledge.”

Since 2003, he has been a member of the Waitangi Tribunal and has heard major claims such as the Whanganui case and Te Paparahi o Te Raki in Northland.

“At this very sad time, I extend my heartfelt sympathies to his wife and constant companion Deirdre, his whānau pani and Te Whakatōhea.”
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