Prime Minister Christopher Luxon will not attend national Waitangi Day event in 2025

Thursday, 19 December 2024

The prime minister says he hasn't decided whether he will visit Waitangi for Waitangi Day

Christopher Luxon will not attend Waitangi Day events next year in Waitangi.

Waitangi National Trust chairperson Pita Tipene had urged Luxon to 'front up' at Waitangi.

Luxon says he plans to go to Waitangi Day events around the rest of the country.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon will not attend the national Waitangi Day events at Waitangi next year, he has confirmed.

His confirmation followed a letter from Hīkoi mō Te Tiriti organisers on Thursday morning, telling Government ministers they were not welcome at any Waitangi Day events.

There has been debate among te ao Māori about how to engage with the coalition Government, given its policies impacting Māori and Te Tiriti. Despite this, the Waitangi National Trust chairperson Pita Tipene urged Luxon earlier this week to “front up” at Waitangi.

“On a day called Waitangi Day, the Kāwanatanga must be at Waitangi to continue on with those conversations. To be anywhere else is not a good thing,” Tipene told Stuff on Tuesday.

But Luxon, in a statement issued Thursday following a meeting with iwi leaders at the Beehive, said he would go elsewhere on Waitangi Day next year.

Christopher Luxon will not attend the national Waitangi Day events at Waitangi.

“It has always been my intention to celebrate Waitangi Day around the country with different iwi,” he said.

He did not say where he would be going on Waitangi Day, but earlier this week said a number of iwi had invited him to events in their rohe (regions). He said other Government ministers would attend the national event at Waitangi.

“I have been in Waitangi the last two years, including in my first year as prime minister, so next year I have decided to head to another part of the country,” he said.

“I have spoken to Waitangi National Trust chair Pita Tipene and wished them all the best for their event in Waitangi.”

Waitangi National Trust Board chair and Ngāti Hine leader Pita Tipene says the prime minister should “front up”.

Luxon also confirmed he would not attend the National Iwi Chairs Forum, which hosts an influential hui each year in the lead up to Waitangi. Stuff understands the Government had been told it was not welcome at that hui, set for February 4, anyway.

While Tipene said there had been some hapū arguing that the Government should not be welcomed, he said it was important that Waitangi continued to be a place where the Kāwanatanga (Government) and te iwi Māori could meet to discuss nationhood.

“We have a clear position about having discourse and being a hub for discussion on Te Tiriti o Waitangi, so it behoves on the prime minister to front up,” he said.

Every other party leader has confirmed to Stuff that they will attend the national Waitangi events at Waitangi.

Luxon said he met iwi leaders on Thursday to outline some policies he argued had a positive impact for Māori. Those policies focused on housing investment, and regional development funding for Parihaka Pā and the Waitangi Treaty Grounds.

However, the statement from hīkoi organisers on Thursday morning also showed the ongoing concern many Māori had with how the Government handled issues such as the Treaty Principles Bill.

Luxon said Thursday’s meeting was “very positive and productive”.

“There is a lot of great work being done by iwi throughout the country and there are many opportunities for us to work together and do so much more,” he said.

Hīkoi organiser Eru Kapa-Kingi argued the Government should be blocked from Waitangi events, saying: “There is absolutely no desire to welcome this anti-Māori government”.

The prime minister did not make himself available for media interviews on Thursday.