Budget 2024: Massive hīkoi reaches Parliament before Budget reveal

Thursday, 30 May 2024

Hīkoi for National Māori Action Day, spearheaded by Te Pati Maori.

Thousands of protesters at the nationwide Toitū Te Tiriti activation have massed at Parliament ahead of the Budget.

Roads near Parliament were closed as people gathered to hear speeches before the Budget which Finance Minister Nicola Willis was to unveil at 2pm. The Wellington crowd is just one of the many protests that have held around the country today - in rallies, hīkoi and “carkoi” - starting from before dawn.

Budget Day protesters mass at Parliament.

Police estimated there were between 5000 and 7000 people taking part in the action in Wellington. Molesworth St is closed to all traffic except buses.

People among the crowd of protesters at Parliament, ahead of the Budget being delivered at 2pm.

Ropata Mawell, who was at the Wellington protest, said that what was happening within the Government wasn’t working for Māori.

“It seems like they are going to want to sever the partnership that we've had with previous Governments. It will affect us as a people, as Maori and more importantly it's going to have a major impact on our babies - our tamariki, our mokopuna - and their future within this country.'

He said he’d ask the government to really consider what they were doing.

Te Pati Māori leads protests through Wellington protesting the incoming National led coalition government's policy towards Maori and the Treaty.

'We've come so far and it's like they want to take us back again to those horrible years of the 30s, 40s, 50s, even the 60s, until we decided to stand up. And we're standing up again today.'

Thousands gather at Wellington railway station ahead of the march to Parliament.

Another protester in Hamilton said after poking from politicians, the bear of Māoridom is “starting to wake up and growl”.

The scene at Wellington railway station before the hikoi to Parliament.

Filmmaker Ezak Te Whaiti Smith had no reservations about taking part in the Hamilton hikoi on Thursday.

Protests are being held around the country, including in Christchurch.

“I feel it is important to support the kaupapa and see our people stand up and rise against what I call tyranny in New Zealand politics”.

Tensions surrounding the policies and decisions of the Government, particularly te Tiriti o Waitangi is “actually uniting us”.

Hundreds of people gathered at the Bridge of Remembrance in central Christchurch for Budget day protests.

“What the political parties today have done have actually poked the bear. What I mean by poking the bear is we’ve been in hibernation for so long…successive governments have been able to shove us in the corner and kept us there. With all these attacks from successive governments the bear is actually starting to wake up and growl.”

Māori health leader Lady Tureiti Moxon, who was protesting in Hamilton, said the Government had overstepped its boundaries. “They’ve neglected their responsibilities,” she said.

“We had children in the forefront of our hikoi because why? We’re doing this not for this generation but for our future generations because if we’re facing this now are they going to be fighting the same issues.”

‘What the political parties today have done have actually poked the bear,’ filmmaker Ezak Te Whaiti Smith said at the Hamilton hikoi.

She said many Māori are very concerned about the fast-tracking legislation and what she termed an “anti-Māori stance” towards Māori wards, the disestablishment of the Māori Health Authority, Oranga Tamariki and section 7aa and wanting to change the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi without consulting experts or the Waitangi Tribunal.

Among the protesters was Iaean Cranwell, Ngāi Tahu councillor at Environment Canterbury, who stands to lose his title and vote at ECan if the Ngāi Tahu representation act is repealed, as promised by the Coalition Government.

In Christchurch, protesters gathered at the Bridge of Remembrance at 11am, the many school children among them singing for a crowd of several hundred that was growing in size.

The crowds chanted Toitū Te Tiriti (Honour the Treaty), and people clutched placards with slogans including “Up da Tiriti” and “Hands off my reo”.

Thousands of people around the country are making their anger about the Government’s perceived “assault on tangata whenua and Te Tiriti o Waitangi” known through rallies, hīkoi and “carkoi” on Budget day. Among them were hundreds of protesters in central Christchurch.

Dave Letele among protesters gathering in Auckland's Aotea Square in the lead-up to Budget announcements.

About 1000 people - and at least one horse - converged at Rotorua's busiest intersection for the protest.

One speaker thanked the attendees for coming out for a cuppa and smoko - perhaps a reference to those working in nearby government offices.

Christchurch-based university student Manuera Riwai-Couch said he heard the strike happening at the Bridge of Remembrance from his friend’s Instagram this morning and went 'to support the Toitu Te Reo Māori'.

Damion Nevi, who is originally from Wairoa but has lived in Christchurch for over 10 years, said the Government needed to show “more respect and acknowledgment” to Māori.

An estimated crowd of 700 are making their way from Kirikiriroa marae towards the University of Waikato,

“We are here to support my whānau and my culture. What the Government did on tangata whenua [Māori people] and Te Tiriti of Waitangi was wrong,” said Oceania Hema-Houkamau-Tikao-Mason.

Jadah Coffin and her nine-week-old son Te Awanuiarangi joined the Te Pāti Māori protest on Thursday morning.

Coffin said she was pregnant with her pēpi at the last protest at the Bridge of Remembrance last September. “We are here again to stand against this government's undermining of Te Tiriti and protest for our future,” she said.

Iaean Cranwell, a Ngāi Tahu councillor at Environment Canterbury, told about 500 people at the Christchurch demonstration that Māori were “being attacked”, including on representation.

Cranwell, who was appointed to ECan by Ngāi Tahu rather than being elected, stands to lose that role if the Coalition Government repeals the representation act, as promised.

“We are being attacked on all sides … on the environment, on the fast track [bill].”

In an online post, organisers said the protest action, which coincides with the Budget announcement, was intended to “prove the might of [the Māori] economy by disconnecting entirely from it”.

The action has several key objectives, outlined on social media, including: “demonstrating the might of tangata whenua and tangata Tiriti working together, the revolution of Generation Tiriti standing up for, and protecting the rights of all mokopuna, and asserting the mana of Te Tiriti o Waitangi as enduring and ever-lasting”.

At Rotorua's busiest intersection on the corner of Fenton and Amohau streets at least 1000 people gathered. Police escorted the groups into the city where they ended their protest with chants and cheers before dispersing.

Traffic into the city almost came to a standstill with many people finding their morning commute taking up to half an hour longer than usual.

In Hamilton it was a calm misty start where an estimated crowd of 700 are making their way from Kirikiriroa marae towards the University of Waikato. The crowd could be heard chanting “ka whawhai tonu matou ake ake ake” a common chant used by Māori groups about standing as one.

Assistant police commissioner Mike Johnson said the police were aware of planned gatherings and they were “working with organisers to provide advice on lawful behaviour on our roads and public places, as well as any health and safety implications”.