As new life arrives at Ihumātao with the birth of Pania Newton’s baby over the weekend and on the back of another dynamic candidate announcement for a resurgent Māori Party in Ikaroa-Rāwhiti, Māori Party president Che Wilson makes the party’s stance on Ihumātao emphatically clear. “In breach of the undertaking by the crown in the Treaty of Waitangi, this land was stolen. The nice term for this is confiscated.”

With new life, this long standing injustice will be corrected when the Māori Party asserts its influence in the makeup of the next government. We have learnt from our own decisions and would hand the land back to mana whenua to protect and manage in the first instance, and to develop as they see fit on behalf of their people who will be reinstalled as the rightful owners.

The Treaty settlement processes must change and an example is that this transfer will be total and absolute as we celebrate new life and there will be no fish hooks. There will be no room for local body politicians or central body politicians to have any say on this land. Mr Wilson went on to say the Māori Party had received significant requests since Rātana for its position on Ihumātao and needed to make it clear at the front end of this election year. “We would have bought certainty and closure rather than having a festering issue so we can look to the future with new hope for our new mokopuna,” Mr Wilson said.

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