This article was first published by Stuff.
This reporting was produced by The Hui and has been republished by Stuff with permission. The video above originally appeared as part of this week’s episode. You can watch the full episode at the bottom of this story. For more great stories from The Hui, click here.
When Thomas Henry needed a helping hand 25 years ago he was told to give the Māori Wardens a call.
“And I said, ‘Māori Wardens?’ They said, ‘Yes, they’ll come out and look after your event’.
“I was a sports administrator for the county of Manukau and we needed help because we had all these different sports clubs coming into South Auckland. I didn’t know how to deal with all the buses.”
Henry was so impressed by their mahi he joined the Māori Wardens and has never looked back.
He now runs the Ōtāhuhu Māori Wardens Association.
Over the last 25 years he’s been part of the response to multiple national emergency events, including Cyclone Gabrielle, Operation Rena and the Christchurch earthquakes.
“It’s just been an amazing journey for me.”
Māori Wardens originated in the mid-1860s.
Introduced to keep law and order in Māori communities and on marae, the role was enshrined in law in 1945.
Today, 900 Māori Wardens serve communities across Aotearoa. They are volunteers who provide support at events, tangihanga, hospitals, courts and more.
“A Māori Warden is someone that is going to be your best friend and is going to look after you,” Henry said.
The role was pushed into the spotlight after Green Party MP Tamatha Paul criticised police patrols in Wellington, saying they made some people feel unsafe.
Paul said it would be easy to replace beat patrols with Māori Wardens but faced a swift backlash, with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon calling her “insane”.
Thomas Henry said Māori Wardens work closely with Police and this relationship often comes under attack.
“We’re not always liked by our own whānau.”
However, Henry said there was a need for a larger police presence because of the increase in violence, ram raids, and mental health callouts.
“I don’t think there’s mistrust around the police doing their job. If they weren’t community-minded, they shouldn’t have taken the role to be a police officer.”
But Henry said Māori Wardens have an important role to play.
“Every time when we go out there, they know straight away, oh yes, the wardens are out making sure that things are going to be safe.”
- Stuff
