Labour throws support behind Matariki becoming a public holiday

Saturday, 1 August 2020

Labour’s Nanaia Mahuta said the partywould be supportive of the public holiday.

The Labour Party has thrown its support behind the campaign to make Matariki a public holiday, but not all the country’s major parties are in favour.

MP Nanaia Mahuta, the minister for Māori development and local government, told Stuff the party would need to seek advice regarding an appropriate date before making it official.

“Labour would be supportive of recognising Matariki as a public holiday. We would need to seek advice perhaps at the select committee to consider the most appropriate date.”

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?

Celebrating Matariki with an official holiday would positively acknowledge Māori astronomy, knowledge and practices, she explained.

There are 10 public holidays celebrated in New Zealand throughout the year, the majority of which are Eurocentric.

“It would… be the only Māori specific holiday in the annual calendar,” Mahuta said.

The party’s stance is in line with tens of thousands of Kiwis, who called for the season to be formally recognised.

MP Paul Eagle accepted two petitions calling for a Matariki public holiday from Action Stations’ Laura O’Connell Rapira.

Two petitions launched by Action Station and New Zealand Republic – which collected 30,000 signatures – were presented to Labour MP Paul Eagle last week and will be presented at a relevant select committee meeting in the near future.

When Eagle collected the petitions from Action Station in Wellington, he said the time to act on this was now. Eagle will take the petitions to the prime minister and ask they be considered and acted on.

Eagle, with the support of former mayor Justin Lester, tried to make Matariki a public holiday two years ago with a Member’s Bill.

He was hopeful the new petitions will fall under his select committee – Governance and Administration – but couldn’t say if it would make it onto the agenda before Parliament concludes its sessions for the year.

Labour’s support comes after Stuff launched its Matariki public holiday campaign. It follows similar calls from the Green Party.

Co-leader Marama Davidson previously told Stuff it was time to recognise Matariki with a national holiday.

Green Party co-leaders will front with members on Friday over the Green school announcement.

“We should absolutely be pushing for this extra public holiday,” Davidson said.

The holiday would be a chance to revitalise Māori culture, and boost domestic tourism and the local economy.

“Additional to increasing cultural awareness around our shared history, this offers an extra day for New Zealanders to get out to the regions and support small businesses that have been hurt by the drop off of international visitors,” tourism spokesperson Gareth Hughes said.

National’s Judith Collins said it’s not the right time to make another public holiday.

“New Zealanders work really hard and are at the lower end of the scale internationally when it comes to annual public holidays. Another day off to get out and celebrate with family would be well overdue.”

Not all the country’s political parties are in favour, though.

National Party leader Judith Collins said, while it was a nice idea, the timing wasn't appropriate.

“Matariki becoming a public holiday is a nice idea with good intentions, but the last thing Kiwi businesses and our economy needs right now is to be burdened with the costs of an extra public holiday, or be told to shut again,” she said.

The party hasn’t advocated for it in the past and isn’t planning to include it in its campaign for the upcoming election.

ACT’s David Seymour mirrored National’s stance.

ACT’s David Seymour didn’t voice his support for the call to make Matariki a public holiday.

Seymour said people make their own choices, and there’s no need for the Government to say when to have a holiday and when to celebrate.

“If people want to celebrate certain days of the year, they're free to do so using annual leave.

“We shouldn’t be adding new holidays such as Matariki.”

Economic downturn in the wake of Covid-19, mass unemployment rates and billions of dollars of debt are reason enough to “get back to work and begin repaying the debt”, he said.

New Zealand First’s deputy leader Fletcher Tabuteau agreed that the Covid-19 economic recovery was a more pressing matter, but he didn’t rule out the possibility of a Matariki public holiday in the future.

”Maybe sometime into the future but right now the economy desperately [needs] production to turn around the devastating effects of COVID 19 on the economy, perhaps now is not the right time for an extra public holiday.”

A handful of other minor parties in New Zealand – The Opportunities Party, New Zealand Outdoors Party, Sustainable New Zealand, and Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party – are in favour of the campaign.