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National

Ngā Tamatoa member calls for government to do more for Pasifika

Ngā Tamatoa life member Taitimu Maipi calls on the government to do more than just make a formal apology for the wrongs committed during the "Dawn Raids" of the 1970s.

Maipi says the experience has left many Pasifika people traumatised for decades and the government needs to consider providing these communities with health facilities to support those families still affected by the Dawn Raids.

“You have to put something with that apology because an apology can come and go but facilities will remain forever. This is a reminder that something happened and this facility would be in memory of those who were caught up in the Dawn Raids.

“That was a horrible experience for anyone at that time. I think the only reason I got through things was that I was following in the footsteps of Sid Jackson. He was doing the things he had to support the Pacific island people”.

Maipi, who has made headlines for his part in the hasty removal of a bronze statue of Captain Hamilton outside Hamilton City Council, says the government needs to give more to the Pacific peoples.

He says to this day many remain tight-lipped about the raids: “A lot of them are silent - they’re silent even now and I know that because, when I talk to them, they say 'we don’t want to cause any problems'”.

Maipi spoke to a group of Huntly kaumātua who remembered several Pacific countries including Samoa, Tonga, and Fiji that were affected but adds all Pacific nations felt the hurt.

“It was natural for me to join Ngā Tamatoa and the Polynesian Panthers because of my childhood days and the way they looked after me”.

This Thursday Maipi will join his fellow Ngā Tamatoa members to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Polynesian Panthers.