Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is emphasising his coalition’s need to work with Māori “to get things done”.
At this year’s Rātana celebrations, Luxon told the gathering: “This government is focused on getting things done and to do that we need to work together with iwi, with Māori community organisations.”
Despite much discussion about the new coalition government’s proposed policies that may threaten the rights of Māori, Luxon says it wants to work with Māori as previous National-led governments have done.
This year’s Rātana celebration is only the second time that Luxon has attended the event, and deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters joined him, though without future deputy David Seymour.
At last week’s hui-ā-motu held by Kīngi Tuheitia to discuss the new government’s proposals that may threaten indigenous rights, neither Luxon, nor Peters nor Seymour were in attendance.
Luxon tells media he plans to convey a message of solidarity in this year’s gathering and highlighting his government’s focus.
“I want all Māori to do well in New Zealand because, when Māori are doing well, New Zealand will be doing well. We have lots of areas for us to work together on.”
Luxon emphasises his government’s focus on education for rangatahi and improved housing and health outcomes.
“If we can’t get our kids educated, how are they supposed to access higher-paying jobs and that’s something really important to New Zealand and its future.
“We have to make sure we have safe communities where there’s less crime and people aren’t impacted by crimes. We want to get things done. We’re going to model it out through our actions… we can all hold different points of views but still be moving together.”
