Te Pāti Māori Co-Leaders Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi will travel to Rarotonga this week to attend Te Maeva Nui 2025, commemorating 60 years of self-government for the Cook Islands.

The visit is being undertaken in their official capacity as Members of Parliament, with travel approved under the parliamentary programme. However, the Co-Leaders are clear:

“We are not going as representatives of this Govt we are going as uri of the Pacific, as relations, as Māori. Our whakapapa crosses this ocean. Our kaupapa binds us. Our solidarity is ancestral” said Te Pāti Māori Co-leader, Rawiri Waititi.

“Te Pāti Māori actively continues to challenge the New Zealand government over its attacks on Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the dismantling of Māori-led systems, and the erosion of Indigenous rights.

“Just as the Cook Islands had to carve their own constitutional pathway, Māori continue to resist a government that breaches our Treaty, our tino rangatiratanga, and our mana.”

This visit reaffirms Te Pāti Māori’s commitment to a decolonial Pacific future one rooted in shared whakapapa, political resistance, and climate survival.

“We stand for a sovereign Pacific demilitarised, decolonised, and determined” said Te Pāti Māori Co-leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer.

“We oppose militarisation in the Pacific, we fight for climate justice across all islands, and we uphold the rights of Indigenous peoples to govern themselves, without interference.”

Te Maeva Nui is a celebration of Cook Islands identity, independence, and resilience and for Te Pāti Māori, it’s a reminder that sovereignty is not a favour , it’s whakapapa in action.

“Our presence at Te Maeva Nui is not an endorsement of any government it’s a recognition of whakapapa that predates Parliament” said Ngarewa-Packer & Waititi.

“We will always choose our people over politics, our waka over the warships, and our ocean over the borders drawn by colonisers.”

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