The several reports which seemed to rejoice in attempts to silence ACT’s leader at Waitangi this week included this article in The Spinoff headed David Seymour and the half-heard speech.
There’s no beating around the bush about it all now. With backs turned to him, his microphone switched off then taken, twice, Act leader David Seymour’s speech and the reception to it on the Treaty Grounds’ Te Whare Rūnanga on Wednesday saw that there was no doubt about the distance between the coalition government and Māori.
She describes how Toitū Te Tiriti leader Eru Kapa-Kingi led a group of about 100 demonstrators from the lower Treaty Grounds to the upper “to counter the pōwhiri”.
To disrupt the traditional ceremony which welcomes people on to a marae, in other words.
This made the ceremony distinctly unwelcoming, although Seymour should have anticipated the hostilities because he had been formally requested by his hapu, Ngāti Rēhia, not to attend Waitangi commemorations in Northland, due to his ongoing support of the Treaty Principles Bill.
“Your hapū have supported your attendance at Waitangi in the past but, with respect, our advice this year is that while this bill is still being progressed and you are still actively supporting it, we do not believe it would be an appropriate decision to attend Waitangi.” the letter said.
Waiwiri-Smith reports that when he turned up anyway, Eru Kapa-Kingi – through a microphone – addressed Seymour directly:
“You should be so lucky to be on this marae,” Kapa-Kingi told him.
“I hope one day, you find it in yourself to love being Māori … Your people would want you to be here, if you would be so willing.”
Wow!.
Seymour is being told he does not love being Māori.
Has he said so to his hapu – or to anybody?
Or is opposition to the Treaty Principles Bill a prerequisite in determining whether Māori love being Māori?
One thing is all too clear from Waiwiri-Smith’s report: Seymour could be forgiven if he does not love some Māori.
She says:
The challenge from the kaiwero was dotted with moments of severity as well, with Seymour being spat at (or rather, in the direction of), and shouting. The challenge inspired New Zealand First minister Shane Jones to later label the pōwhiri a “circus”, and threaten to pull funding from the Waitangi National Trust – a move both his coalition partners quickly told media they wouldn’t support.
A group of wāhine haukāinga wearing paraikete emblazoned with pro-te Tiriti logos and slogans, who had formed a human barricade at the front of the marae while minister for Māori Crown relationships Tama Potaka spoke, had rose again to obscure the crowd’s view of Seymour, then lightly sang waiata to drown out his words.
But when Labour leader Chris Hipkins spoke, the women had taken their seats.
It was clear whose kōrero was welcomed, and whose wasn’t.
Waiwiri-Smith seized on a few words from his speech to say Seymour was at Waitangi to set the record straight on the “poison in the ears of young people” being shared about him,
… but the phrasing went down like a lead balloon for those who felt he was the only one spitting poison.
We are not told whether anyone was splattered with this poison.
But Waiwiri-Smith did mention that Seymour was spat at, too – an observation echoed in another Spinoff report which noted:
David Seymour accepted the taki laid down by the kaiwero, and was spat at while doing so.
Waiwiri-Smith then tells us about the protesters’ efforts to silence Seymour:
A mere two minutes into his speech, Seymour’s voice disappeared. His microphone had been switched off. But he was undeterred, and raised his voice to make up for the lost amplification. He tried to smooth it all over with some improvisation: “here’s some things you can’t turn your back on”. There were the predictable Seymour gags, but they were delivered almost half-heartedly – not quite with an air of defeat but with the energy of someone who knows he’s not speaking to his core crowd, and won’t bother trying to pretend they could be.
Seymour’s microphone was turned back on after a minute, before Ngātiwai chairman Aperahama Edwards, who opened the pōwhiri, walked over and took the microphone altogether. It was soon returned, then taken again, then returned. All the while, the human barricade and the backs now turned from those sitting in the mana whenua seats were singing ‘Mana Motuhake’.
Waiwiri-Smith did capture something of what Seymour said. The final few words:
“Ngā mihi, and I look forward to working with you,” Seymour ended his speech.
“You know you want to, and you know that ultimately we all have to.”
And then:
After the pōwhiri, members of the public heckled him as he walked across the grounds.
Waiwiri-Smith concluded:
Will Seymour’s address at Waitangi be remembered in the same vein as Don Brash’s infamous Ōrewa speech? Unlikely. He didn’t say much at all. Those on the mana whenua side had a clear goal — to forget Seymour entirely, keeping their backs turned until the government morphs into something they believe reflects the interests of Māori. On the flip side, a short and largely uneventful event is likely what the coalition were also hoping for.
Instead, what will be remembered this time next year is that for half of his speech, Seymour was silenced and turned away from. After all, nobody remembers what Steven Joyce was saying when a dildo hit his face.
If half of the speech could not be heard, Waiwiri-Smith must have had a written copy for her to conclude he didn’t say much at all.
That has us wondering about the nature of the poison Seymour was spitting.
If it was in the phrasing, rather than in his spittle, our readers are invited to try to find the toxic content HERE.
Bob Edlin is a veteran journalist and editor for the Point of Order blog HERE. - where this article was sourced.
She describes how Toitū Te Tiriti leader Eru Kapa-Kingi led a group of about 100 demonstrators from the lower Treaty Grounds to the upper “to counter the pōwhiri”.
To disrupt the traditional ceremony which welcomes people on to a marae, in other words.
This made the ceremony distinctly unwelcoming, although Seymour should have anticipated the hostilities because he had been formally requested by his hapu, Ngāti Rēhia, not to attend Waitangi commemorations in Northland, due to his ongoing support of the Treaty Principles Bill.
“Your hapū have supported your attendance at Waitangi in the past but, with respect, our advice this year is that while this bill is still being progressed and you are still actively supporting it, we do not believe it would be an appropriate decision to attend Waitangi.” the letter said.
Waiwiri-Smith reports that when he turned up anyway, Eru Kapa-Kingi – through a microphone – addressed Seymour directly:
“You should be so lucky to be on this marae,” Kapa-Kingi told him.
“I hope one day, you find it in yourself to love being Māori … Your people would want you to be here, if you would be so willing.”
Wow!.
Seymour is being told he does not love being Māori.
Has he said so to his hapu – or to anybody?
Or is opposition to the Treaty Principles Bill a prerequisite in determining whether Māori love being Māori?
One thing is all too clear from Waiwiri-Smith’s report: Seymour could be forgiven if he does not love some Māori.
She says:
The challenge from the kaiwero was dotted with moments of severity as well, with Seymour being spat at (or rather, in the direction of), and shouting. The challenge inspired New Zealand First minister Shane Jones to later label the pōwhiri a “circus”, and threaten to pull funding from the Waitangi National Trust – a move both his coalition partners quickly told media they wouldn’t support.
A group of wāhine haukāinga wearing paraikete emblazoned with pro-te Tiriti logos and slogans, who had formed a human barricade at the front of the marae while minister for Māori Crown relationships Tama Potaka spoke, had rose again to obscure the crowd’s view of Seymour, then lightly sang waiata to drown out his words.
But when Labour leader Chris Hipkins spoke, the women had taken their seats.
It was clear whose kōrero was welcomed, and whose wasn’t.
Waiwiri-Smith seized on a few words from his speech to say Seymour was at Waitangi to set the record straight on the “poison in the ears of young people” being shared about him,
… but the phrasing went down like a lead balloon for those who felt he was the only one spitting poison.
We are not told whether anyone was splattered with this poison.
But Waiwiri-Smith did mention that Seymour was spat at, too – an observation echoed in another Spinoff report which noted:
David Seymour accepted the taki laid down by the kaiwero, and was spat at while doing so.
Waiwiri-Smith then tells us about the protesters’ efforts to silence Seymour:
A mere two minutes into his speech, Seymour’s voice disappeared. His microphone had been switched off. But he was undeterred, and raised his voice to make up for the lost amplification. He tried to smooth it all over with some improvisation: “here’s some things you can’t turn your back on”. There were the predictable Seymour gags, but they were delivered almost half-heartedly – not quite with an air of defeat but with the energy of someone who knows he’s not speaking to his core crowd, and won’t bother trying to pretend they could be.
Seymour’s microphone was turned back on after a minute, before Ngātiwai chairman Aperahama Edwards, who opened the pōwhiri, walked over and took the microphone altogether. It was soon returned, then taken again, then returned. All the while, the human barricade and the backs now turned from those sitting in the mana whenua seats were singing ‘Mana Motuhake’.
Waiwiri-Smith did capture something of what Seymour said. The final few words:
“Ngā mihi, and I look forward to working with you,” Seymour ended his speech.
“You know you want to, and you know that ultimately we all have to.”
And then:
After the pōwhiri, members of the public heckled him as he walked across the grounds.
Waiwiri-Smith concluded:
Will Seymour’s address at Waitangi be remembered in the same vein as Don Brash’s infamous Ōrewa speech? Unlikely. He didn’t say much at all. Those on the mana whenua side had a clear goal — to forget Seymour entirely, keeping their backs turned until the government morphs into something they believe reflects the interests of Māori. On the flip side, a short and largely uneventful event is likely what the coalition were also hoping for.
Instead, what will be remembered this time next year is that for half of his speech, Seymour was silenced and turned away from. After all, nobody remembers what Steven Joyce was saying when a dildo hit his face.
If half of the speech could not be heard, Waiwiri-Smith must have had a written copy for her to conclude he didn’t say much at all.
That has us wondering about the nature of the poison Seymour was spitting.
If it was in the phrasing, rather than in his spittle, our readers are invited to try to find the toxic content HERE.
Bob Edlin is a veteran journalist and editor for the Point of Order blog HERE. - where this article was sourced.
2 comments:
Nothing new here. Remember the Queen getting eggs thrown at her back in the 80s. Just another example of the way Maori treat visitors and how democracy and free speech will be under co-goverment.
There are many egregious aspects to how New Zealanders are treated in the present political climate. One is that voters, once their vote has been secured, are discarded as having served their purpose. Many people were complaining about our totally biased MSM before the election and were expecting a complete overhaul. Why has this not happened? Most of us find it so appalling we can't even watch any more. It's pure propaganda for the
left-wing parties. David Seymours speech as shown on the ACT website was nothing as depicted by the MSM. The coalition have only themselves to blame for continual bad coverage by the media if they refuse to support their voters and taxpayers.
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