What does the future of the Kīngitanga look like?
The new Māori Queen Ngā Wai Hono i Te Pō Paki will be immediately thrust into a fractured political environment.
Mōrena, and welcome to The Bulletin for Friday, September 6.
In today’s edition: Labour leader Chris Hipkins gives his best hint yet at what the party’s 2026 election campaign will look like, why Christopher Luxon was made to “look like an idiot” (according to one MP), and Wellington Council votes to keep its Māori ward. But first, a new queen rises.
A queen anointed
Yesterday in The Bulletin, we focussed on the final farewell to Kīngi Tuheitia. Today, it feels only right we spend some time looking to the future. Ngā Wai Hono i Te Pō Paki was unveiled as the new Māori Queen yesterday morning, her coronation taking place just prior to the burial of her father. As explained by the Spinoff’s Liam Rātana, who has been on the ground at Tūrangawaewae Marae, Ngā Wai Hono i Te Po becomes the eighth Māori monarch since the election of Pōtatau Te Wherowhero in 1856, with whom the queen shares direct lineage.
Though the youngest child of Tuheitia, her ascension to the throne was not a surprise. In recent years, explained Rātana, the new queen had been taking on more official engagements alongside her father, with some picking that she was being groomed for the role.
Continuing, and refreshing, a legacy
Ngā Wai Hono i Te Pō isn’t just taking on a figurehead role, but one that holds great respect within Māoridom. But at just 27, she is far younger than her father was when he became monarch and assumes the role at a time when racial tensions are high. There is hope she can maintain the unity on display in recent days. “This is more than a generational shift… she will be the face of renewal,” said New Zealand First MP Shane Jones, reported the Herald’s Joseph Los'e. “Given the extent of Māori youth, I suspect she will personify their aspirations.”
That could be challenging for the coalition government Jones is a central part of. As Stuff’s Glenn McConnell explained, Ngā Wai Hono i te Po seems likely to build on her father’s legacy when it comes to advocating for Māori rights and vocally criticising the government. In 2022, she met with then-Prince Charles in London and made clear her vision for Crown-Māori relations, advocating for all Māori land to be returned. Earlier this year, wrote Newsroom’s Aaron Smale, King Tuheitia urged Māori not so much to directly challenge the government, but to stand up for themselves. It will up to Ngā Wai Hono i Te Pō to determine how, or whether, to do the same.
A period of political goodwill
Writing in her weekly political briefing newsletter (paywalled), the Herald’s Audrey Young said that Ngā Wai Hono i Te Pō begins her reign as queen with a “deep well of goodwill”. Though, as Young also noted, she will be immediately thrust into a political environment that is fractured. “No experienced politician would have agreed to the sheer breadth of policies eroding Māori gains as [prime minister Christopher] Luxon did after last year’s election,” wrote Young. “It has led to a new era of kotahitanga [unity] among Māori and where that leads is unknown.”
Goodwill maybe, but will the unity on display over the past week last? As Newsroom’s Laura Walters analysed, it’s far easier for politicians to speak of unity during a time of mourning – and while in Wellington. The true test will be whether politicians continue to live up to it. Luxon, responding to the announcement of a new queen, said Ngā Wai Hono i Te Pō carried forward the mantle of leadership left by her father. “The path ahead is illuminated by the great legacy of Kīngi Tuheitia.”
That sentiment – of kotahitanga – was reflected by others present at yesterday’s ceremony, reported Te Aorewa Rolleston for the Waikato Times. “I reckon our people need to unite and with this coalition government, our people need to come together,” said one mourner.
A day of high emotion
Yesterday’s farewell to Kīngi Tuheitia saw thousands of people flank the Waikato River. Though nothing could compare to being there in person, this report from The Spinoff’s Liam Rātana and Lyric Waiwiri-Smith does an excellent job of transporting you to the bank of the river.
Waiwiri-Smith writes:
The coffin of Tuheitia, cloaked in kahu kiwi and flowers, is carried on the shoulders of several pallbearers to the flotilla of six waka awaiting him at the Waikato awa, flowing past Tūrangawaewae marae at the bottom of the grounds.
Tuheitia is loaded onto a carved wooden waka named Tātahi Ora, where the new queen joins him in the middle under a shelter covered in hundreds of flowers weaved out of harakeke. Thousands of admirers are lined along the banks and bridges of the Waikato River. When Tuheitia’s body travels on the waka below the overpasses, the crowds part to the sides so as not to stand over his head.
Photos of the proceedings shared by the Waikato Times show the size of the crowd. “I mean, look at the number of people who have gathered here and people have opened up their yards across the river,” said one mourner.
“That's a beautiful thing.”
Listen: An electrifying plan for Aotearoa
Saul Griffith helped change the world a couple of years ago when he and a couple of tech bro mates convinced Joe Biden to rewrite the Democrats’ Green New Deal and pitch it as an Inflation Reduction Act to rewire America’s economy with renewable energy. Saul makes a pitch for Aotearoa to do the same, but much cheaper and much faster, instead of the government’s current plan to spend $1 billion importing gas over the next couple of years.
He presents Rewiring Aotearoa’s paper on The Electrification Opportunity, which estimates cheaper power costs worth $10.7 billion per year by 2040.
Listen below or wherever you get your podcasts.
Chart proving ‘14 layers’ of Health NZ management does not exist
The office of health minister Shane Reti has been forced to admit that an organisational chart for Health NZ that was used to justify wide ranging cuts at the agency does not exist. Both Reti and prime minister Christopher Luxon, in announcing that Te Whatu Ora would be required to slash $1.4bn as part of cost-saving measures, used the “chart” as evidence the agency was bloated and too bureaucratic with 14 levels of management. According to the Herald’s Thomas Coughlan (paywalled), Reti has now claimed the chart was an amalgam of various others and, as has previously been reported, the “14 layers” of management included both the chief executive and the patient.
Given that it means there are still 12 layers of management, Reti’s point about bloat at Health NZ arguably still stands, noted Ryan Bridge on Newstalk ZB’s Early Edition today. However, Labour’s health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall said the invented chart made the prime minister, who first referenced it, “look like an idiot”.
What’s on and off the table for Labour’s 2026 campaign?
In a wide-ranging interview with Stuff’s Tova O’Brien, Labour leader Chris Hipkins has given his best indication yet of what the party may bring to the table in the next election campaign. Of course, we’re still two years away, but no one likes to instigate a round of the rule in, rule out game more than journalists.
Tax is always a tricky subject for Labour, but Hipkins reiterated his view that New Zealand needed to have “a fairly significant conversation” about it and indicated his party will campaign on broadening the tax system. “Exactly what that looks like, we've still got a lot of water to flow under the bridge there.”
Meanwhile, Labour’s 2023 policy of ditching GST from fruit and vegetables will almost certainly not return (“I don't think that's going to be part of our mix for the next campaign”) and a free dental care proposal could be expanded (“we certainly want to have universal basic dental care as part of our public health system”).
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Click and Collect
Wellington City Council votes to keep Te Whanganui-a-Tara Māori Ward.
The transport system kills thousands of people prematurely each year, and the government's new transport plan will only make that worse, an academic says.
Women's Refuge cash spent on beauty treatments, dental work, travel.
For Newsroom Pro subscribers, I enjoyed this look at the New Zealand’s booming space sector – it’s something I’d like to look into a bit more for a future Bulletin. (paywalled)
A select committee report has revealed previously confidential legal advice that charter school rules will likely breach international labour and free trade agreements.
Government looks to shoulder more building liability burdens. (BusinessDesk, paywalled)
Our taskforce of Taskmaster NZ tragics return to complete the toughest task of all: ranking all 210 tasks from all five seasons. Artists Emily Hartley-Skudder and Pinky Fang have collaborated on a series of photos documenting a collection of pre-1948 cosmetics made in Palestine. Gabi Lardies reviews the big doughnuts that people queue and queue for at the Auckland Night Markets. Alex Casey runs through 49 things Christchurch drivers could do with the extra 49 seconds they’ll gain from a proposed motorway speed limit change. And in the latest edition of Help Me Hera: I want to ask out my cat’s vet. Is that wrong?
That’s it for another week, thanks for reading. I’ll catch you back on Monday.
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Watching the tangihanga gave me a day of hope - someone somewhere suggested we replace our coalition govt with the Marae leadership that pulled off this extraordinarily complex & moving week, leading to a new leader for the Kingitanga, The new Kuini will want to build on the legacy of her father, and she will only succeed if the kotahitanga of the last few months surrounds her & supports her. And that includes non-Maori 🫶🏽