30,000-strong petition to make Matariki a public holiday moves onto next stage

Friday, 24 July 2020

Matariki has become popular across the country, and the reclamation of ancestral knowledge has been celebrated across the country, so is it time to make the Māori New Year a public holiday?

While admiring the Matariki art installation at Te Papa, Action Station’s Laura O’Connell Rapira handed over her hard work.

Two petitions calling for Matariki to become a public holiday, launched by Action Station and New Zealand Republic, received over 30,000 signatures.

The paperless petitions were handed to Labour MP Paul Eagle on Friday night.

“We wanted to experience the Matariki community event that's being put on by the council because we thought it would be really nice for the petition – which we consider to be a taonga – to be handed over in a place that embodies what we imagine a public holiday to look like,” O’Connell Rapira said.

Laura O'Connell Rapira handed over a petition calling for Matariki to be a public holiday on Friday.

“[It’s] something that's about community, kai, kōrero, celestial connections.”

Collectively the petitions, which were formally merged and delivered together, garnered around 30,068 signatures from supporters all around the country.

The decision to deliver the petitions via USB was made to save paper, aligning with Matariki’s link to caring for the environment, O’Connell Rapira said.

Eagle, who was standing in for MP Kiri Allan, told Stuff it was time to act on making Matariki a public holiday. Two years ago he tried himself with a Member’s Bill.

“What we see here, in the capital city, is lots of Wellingtonians out who now understand what Matariki is all about, I can't say that this was the same case three [or] four years ago, but it is now,” Eagle said.

O’Connell Rapira was proud of all the petition had achieved in just two months, but noted there was more work to follow.

MP Paul Eagle will take Laura O’Connell Rapira’s Matariki public holiday petition to the relevant select committee hearing.

“I know that it doesn't end when we hand over the petition but I know that this moment is really special.

“This whole campaign has been an absolute joy to be a part of.”

The next step will see the petitions formally presented at a select committee hearing.

“My task [is] to take Laura's hard mahi, hard work, to the prime minister and say ‘yes please, please consider it and let's get it on the agenda to make formally a public holiday’,” Eagle said.

The Matariki projection at Te Papa is part of Wellington City Council's Matariki celebration event, Ahi Ka.

He was hopeful it will fall under his select committee – Governance and Administration.

Parliament is only sitting for two more weeks, Eagle couldn’t say if the petitions would make it onto the agenda in that time.

Both O’Connell Rapira and New Zealand Republic’s Lewis Holden were pushing for Māori New Year celebrations to be honoured with an official public holiday.

“I always felt that as a country we don’t do a very good job of acknowledging indigenous New Zealanders, acknowledging Māori,” Holden previously told Stuff.

Adding a public holiday requires an amendment of the Holidays Act 2003.