Act Party leader David Seymour disagrees with what some say was a heated exchange between Ngāti Rēhia leader Kipa Munro and Māori Crown-Relations Minister Tama Potaka about his Māori lineage at an Iwi Chairs Forum today.
“I don’t think Kipa was being as serious as it seemed. I think he was basically saying ‘Tama, we know our whakapapa you don’t need to tell us’. So I guess it’s a customary issue.”
A whakatau (official welcome) was held for the Crown representatives on Friday as part of the National Iwi Chairs Forum in Kerikeri.
Potaka, who spoke first on behalf of the government and as manuhiri, jokingly highlighted that, despite being Crown representatives, they are of Māori descent and have other whakapapa (ancestral ties). In his whaikōrero (speech) he referred to Shane Jones’ Croatian whakapapa and Seymour having whakapapa to Ngāti Rehia.
The exchange about Seymour’s whakapapa resulted one of the host speakers, Ngāti Rēhia leader Kipa Munro, standing up from his seat to shut down Potaka. Munro said: “Waiho tēnā, kaua e kōrero pēnā. Me mutu koe e kōrero pēna, māku e kōrero mōna,” said Munroe.
(Leave that, don’t speak like that. You need to finish talking like that. I will speak for him.)
Speaking to the media, Potaka rejected claims about reading the room and whakatau exchange entirely wrong, referring to Seymour’s heritage as Ngāti Rehia.
“What I understood the kaumātua saying is he will have his own conversations with Minister Seymour, as he has already and he will continue to do so,” Potaka told Te Ao News.
Potaka says he was not at fault and said the exchange was a great way of demonstrating tikanga māori (protocols) and the process.
Seymour also told Te Ao News that last year he met Munro and some members of his hapū, Ngāti Rehia. He mentioned they were proud to have a hapū member who will be the deputy minister (in 16 months) but they also told him that they disagreed with and were concerned about his views.
Munroe confirmed after the koha exchange that Seymour’s whakapapa shouldn’t be referred to as only Ngāti Rēhia, as he is of Ngāpuhi descent.
This is Seymour’s first attendance at the National Iwi Chairs Forum.
PART OF WHAKATAU TRANSCRIPT:
Tama Potaka: I tipu mai au i ngā rekereke a Whatarangi Winiata mā me te kī atu ki a koutou, e kore au e tahuri ki te kiritea o te tangata. He māori ahau engari he whakapapa hoki pākehā ōku. E kore e taea te aha.
Tama Potaka: Pēnei hoki me te tangata nei o Ūropi, koinei tō mātou ambassador nō Croatia. Me tō matou ambassador i roto i a Ngāti Rehia, tēnei e tū nei.
Kipa Munro: Waiho tēnā, kaua e kōrero pēnā. Me mutu koe e kōrero pēna, māku e kōrero mōna.
Te Wā Koha:
Kipa Munro: Kua kōrero kē ki ngā hunga nei ki taku iwi nei o Ngāpuhi. Ko māua (Kipa Munro me David Seymour) nei kōrero. Ka mea au ki a rātou kaua koutou e tapatapahia i te wā ka whakahuahuatia he Ngāti Rēhia, mēnā he Ngāti Rēhia, he Ngāpuhi, mēnā he Ngāpuhi he Ngāi Māori. Kua kōrero kē au ki a ia (Seymour), mōhio ana ia te tū o tōna hapū, korekau e whakaae ki ahau, kua wehe hoki nei, kua oti kē.