Government Meets Māori at Second Major Gathering

Amidst growing unrest among Māori over what they see as divisive government policies and a possible attempt to rewrite the Treaty of Waitangi, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters, along with a government delegation, have been welcomed to Rātana Pā (Rātana community) for the second major gathering of Māori leadership in a week. Rātana is considered by some to be the start of the political year, and celebrates the Rātana Church’s late founder, Tahupōtiki Wiremu Rātana. The Rātana movement is a church and pan-iwi (all iwi/tribes) political movement founded in 1925. It has historical links to the Labour Party after its founding prophet allied with former Prime Minister Michael Joseph Savage in 1936....