Home > Turia takes party message south
Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia said yesterday the southern Maori seat Te Tai Tonga was definitely within the party’s sights come election time next year.
The newly re-elected member for Te Tai Hauauru was in Dunedin on the invitation of the University of Otago’s Te Roopu Maori and was wasting no time in spreading the fledgling political party’s organisation to the south.
A Dunedin branch of the party and youth branches were likely to be set up soon, she said.
"There is definitely interest in the Maori Party because people are looking for a new way forward," Mrs Turia said.
Still only two weeks old, the party already had about 4000 members, she said. Interest was spreading through the South Island, with centres of support in Nelson, Kaikoura and Christchurch.
Mrs Turia said her party had struck strong support in Kaikoura, which is the home base of Ngai Tahu chairman Mark Solomon.
"What they have said to us is it’s up to the various whanau down here to make up their own minds as to what support they will give," Mrs Turia said.
There was a widely held belief that the efforts of Maori to take responsibility for their own affairs through kura kaupapa (Maori language schools) and community health providers should be reflected by representation in Parliament, she said.
Addressing a crowd of about 100 at the university tonight, Mrs Turia made a call to action.
"All it takes is action. If everyone here could make the commitment tonight, to be a kingmaker in their whanau, the ’activist for a day’, the Crown advocate if you really want, then we could achieve change."
If all Maori could be encouraged on to the Maori roll, it would mean 15 seats in the House, she said.
"We believe that we have the capacity to be a bicultural nation, where it is possible to promote and validate the role of Maori as tangata whenua throughout New Zealand and also to promote harmonious relationships amongst all New Zealanders."
Earlier, Mrs Turia dismissed talk of a merger with the Alliance Party though said its highly regarded organiser Matt McCarten was still working with the Maori Party after his involvement in the Te Tai Hauauru by-election.