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Ngāti Ruanui iwi leader and Māori Party co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer at a checkpoint in Patea, Taranaki, May 2020 (Photo: supplied)
Ngāti Ruanui iwi leader and Māori Party co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer at a checkpoint in Patea, Taranaki, May 2020 (Photo: supplied)

ĀteaAugust 17, 2020

Iwi leaders are hoping for the best and preparing for the worst

Ngāti Ruanui iwi leader and Māori Party co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer at a checkpoint in Patea, Taranaki, May 2020 (Photo: supplied)
Ngāti Ruanui iwi leader and Māori Party co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer at a checkpoint in Patea, Taranaki, May 2020 (Photo: supplied)

A number of Māori and Pacific leaders are concerned that the government’s response to the resurgence of Covid-19 won’t be enough to protect their communities.

Where the first Covid-19 outbreaks were predominantly among those who had travelled overseas, largely missing communities with high-density Māori and Pacific populations, the latest outbreak originating in South Auckland has put a far more vulnerable group at risk.

Lawyer and children’s advocate Julia Whaipooti wrote on Twitter on Saturday that the government and Ministry of Health Covid response must centre Māori in decision making “as a matter of urgency”, pointing out that in the flu pandemic Māori were eight times more likely to die.

She went on to say that there’s a chance some people who get sick will continue to work because they can’t afford not to. Funding should go immediately to Māori and Pacific health organisations so that those people can go to healthcare facilities they trust.

“The current Covid wave in NZ is impacting our people. This is not the time to play politics with our lives. And it is never the time to prioritise the economy over our lives.”

Māori epidemic response committee Te Rōpū Whakakaupapa Urutā have even called new plans to quarantine all positive Covid-19 cases in an MIQ facility ‘racist’ and ‘patronising’.

The group’s co-leader Dr Papaarangi Reid told Stuff: “It’s racist on its assumption we don’t have the skills and the decision-making power to make good decisions.”

The director general of health says the decision was made to stop transmission within the home, and that as long as the relevant medical officer of health is happy, other arrangements can be made. “One of the families in the Marist cluster was in isolation for 46 days because they kept sharing the virus with each other,” he told reporters at Friday’s media update.

Despite assurances, around the country, iwi are once again making preparations to protect their vulnerable.

Ngāi Tūhoe have a resurgence plan but they’re hoping that there will be less travel this time and check points won’t be necessary again if the area goes into alert level three or four. They are following the current recommendations for level two, and distributing masks but as usual, with an eye on the possible impact for the environment. A recent Facebook post asked “Shall we go with the cheaper disposable option that will be here this week? Or the reusable option that we may have to wait a bit longer for? Or shall we get both?”

Te Whānau ā Apanui, who were the first to lock down their aukati borders with checkpoints in and out of the rohe in March, have announced they will be doing so again under level two. They’re also trying to asses how many iwi members there are in Auckland in order to better support them, and encouraging people to join the Te Whānau ā Apanui ki Tāmaki Makaurau Facebook page.

Ngāti Ruanui chair and Māori Party co-leader Debbie Ngarewa Packer has also confirmed that Taranaki iwi will push for regional road blocks if a case turns up in the region. “And if the government won’t, iwi will run checkpoints anyway,” she told followers on Twitter.

In Te Tai Tokerau, robust plans are underway due to its proximity to Auckland. Mana Movement leader Hone Harawira told The Spinoff that too many people have slipped through the Ngāti Whātua-assisted checkpoints posted at Wellsford to prevent Aucklanders from leaving the region.

“The police, the army and Ngāti Whātua’s massive checkpoints just north of Te Hana, they’ve done a good job, a very bold effort. Unfortunately, because it’s driven by the police, with the support of iwi, rather than by iwi with the support of police, the tenor of the questions has been a little light. Not as demanding as they would be if we were running them,” he said.

Harawira says that plans are now being made on “how best to get rid of” those who shouldn’t be sheltering in Northland.

“We can put in the check points we had last time. We can work with the police as another option, with mobile patrols, or we might consider other action like a sweep right through Te Tai Tokerau, from the Cape [Reinga] all the way down. Basically call in at every tourist camp and holiday park and say ‘pack up you’re moving’.

Despite his reputation as a man of action, Harawira’s not looking to be a vigilante. “We’ve worked really well with the police and our aim is to maintain that good relationship with them. Our aim is not to be kicking down doors and throwing people out onto the road. But it is to be firm and positive and clear. Who cares what their reasons are, we really don’t care. They shouldn’t have come up in the first place.”

Harawira said he was due to discuss options with a number of coordinators around Northland on Friday.

“Then we’ll sit down with the local inspectors, Inspector Tony Hill, Inspector Riki Whiu and Inspector Chris McLellan, and talk to them about how we might work together, and establish check points to reaffirm the message on the main highways at least.

His message to those not taking the measures seriously, and especially to those protesting the restrictions in Whangārei on Thursday, was unequivocal.

“I can’t believe how stupid and foolish some of our people are,” he said. “Anybody who thinks that Covid-19 is here because of 5G needs their head read.”

“This is not an acceptable practice,” he continued. “A lot of our people are under threat from Covid-19. There’s distinct likelihood that some of our people could die. Our job is to protect our people from the impact of Covid-19, not to dance around like it’s a joke. If any of those people get in the way, they’re going to be moved aside faster than we’ll move the tourists.

“They belittle the kaupapa of tino rangatiratanga. There’s no sovereignty in stupidity. There’s no leadership. Let’s fight this as hard as we possibly can. If we are wrong, then next year let people laugh at us. If we are right, I don’t want to get to next year and have to go to a whole lot of tangi because we made a mistake.”

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National’s East Coast candidate Tania Tapsell (Photo: Alex Braae)
National’s East Coast candidate Tania Tapsell (Photo: Alex Braae)

ĀteaAugust 16, 2020

The youngest in the room: Meet National’s 28-year-old East Coast candidate

National’s East Coast candidate Tania Tapsell (Photo: Alex Braae)
National’s East Coast candidate Tania Tapsell (Photo: Alex Braae)

When the National Party talks about renewal, their East Coast candidate Tania Tapsell (Te Arawa) is a potent symbol. Alex Braae went to Whakatāne to find out what drives her to push so hard for political success.

She was the youngest person in the room by far. Admittedly, that room was the Whakatāne Bridge Club on Monday morning, but Tania Tapsell still stood out. As the National Party’s 28-year-old candidate for the East Coast electorate, Tapsell is living proof of the party trying to renew itself. She’s been unusually successful in local government – a contrast to the many candidates who’ve come through the parliamentary staffer machine – and is unafraid of speaking her mind, even if her stump speech sticks close to the party line. She’s also Māori and a woman, in a party that has lately been criticised for lacking both. 

Her speech at the Bridge Club was bright and cheerful, underpinned by both sheer enthusiasm and a more subtle sharpness. Without notes, she went for about 20 minutes, without ever once getting lost or heading down an inconclusive tangent. She had the feel for public speaking of someone who had been prepared for leadership roles from a very young age. Almost as a joke, I asked if she’d been head girl at her high school.

“No, I dropped out of high school,” she said. “I left school when I was 16, the one size fits all system just didn’t work for me, so I was very independent. But I just had this huge drive through the challenges I faced and saw my community facing, I developed a huge drive to serve my community.” She also left home at the same time, but at 16, she was too young to get benefits so worked two jobs instead.

But dropping out of high school didn’t mean dropping out of society for Tapsell. She still participated in youth council and was the youth MP for Rotorua’s Todd McClay after having joined the National Party as a teenager. Instead of being in school, she did business studies and had a stint at Deloitte doing business consulting before being elected as a Rotorua District Councillor at 21 years old. By then, she’d resolved to become a politician “because I believe it doesn’t have to be as hard as it is for people to get ahead”.

Tania Tapsell putting up hoardings on the East Coast (Photo: Facebook/Tania Tapsell)

As far as life stories go, it’s pretty much the perfect narrative for the National Party worldview. While some on the outside look at the party as being a force for maintaining and entrenching hierarchy and privilege, those inside the party see it as a force for aspiration and ambition. It’s why concepts like “a hand up, not a hand-out” are such potent political lines for National supporters. 

But can it really be a party for everyone? The event she was speaking at was a monthly meeting of the Whakatāne National Party called Blue Mondays, started by popular but retiring MP Anne Tolley. For Blue Mondays, MPs or prominent candidates are asked to come up and say a few words about their particular portfolio areas and interests, such as Botany candidate Christopher Luxon and MP Nicola Willis. 

Held just before new cases of community transmission were announced, those who turned up to this month’s event had come from various professional backgrounds: former teachers, community service workers, and businesspeople. By and large, though, it was a room full of retirees and predominantly Pākehā. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course, but it does make it harder to claim the party is being rejuvenated. 

Blue Monday at the Whakatāne Bridge Club (Photo: Alex Braae)

Being the youngest in the room is a fairly common experience for Tapsell, who said it’s part of what drives her. “A big reason why I’ve wanted to get into this space is to let other young professionals and young families know that this is a space for us.”

Surely that’s particularly a problem within National? “We’ve got a lot of long-serving members in the National Party,” she conceded, which is a good way of not saying old. “But we’ve got this fresh, exciting new wave of experienced young candidates that are coming through the party. We’ve got a very active Young Nats group, and that’s something I want to help grow in the regions as well.” 

If anyone can make that happen outside of the big university cities, it’s probably Tapsell. She’s immensely popular at the local government level to the point where a mayoral candidate last year described her as a “pied piper” for younger voters. He didn’t mean it as a compliment, but she said they now get on OK around the council table. 

Former speaker of the house Sir Peter Tapsell (Photo: Getty Images)

For those who recognise the Tapsell name, her allegiance to the National Party might come as a surprise. After all, her great uncle was Sir Peter Tapsell, who served five terms as Labour’s MP for Eastern Māori, an electorate that no longer exists. However, Tapsell said her family has always been supportive of her political allegiances, saying it was “clear to them that I leaned to the right”.

“Even as a child, I couldn’t understand how some of Labour’s policies were so hurtful to rural communities. And I’ve always really loved how National is about limited government, and supporting individuals and families to get ahead.”  

There’s pretty much only one way Tapsell can make it to Wellington, and that’ll be as an electorate MP. She’s fine with that, casting her low list ranking (64) as a combination of both National Party processes around new candidates, and a sign of confidence from the party that she can actually win the seat. When I point out to her that a balanced National caucus would probably have more people like her in it, she points to incumbent health spokesperson Dr Shane Reti, and new candidate Dale Stephens, who is Te Rarawa.

“Māori are well represented, but it’s my personal opinion that you should be placed somewhere on merit,” said Tapsell, with a slightly wry suggestion that she’d expect a better list ranking if she becomes an MP.

But to become an MP, she faces an extremely formidable opponent. In the last election, Labour’s Kiri Allan was 5,000 votes short of incumbent Anne Tolley. But after a solid term in parliament, Allan has already started campaigning hard to win the vacated seat. On the same day Tapsell was at the Whakatāne Bridge Club, Allan was in Kawerau – an industrial town that’s now been plastered with her signs and is always hearty for Labour. The East Coast electorate might include a lot of rural areas (farmers were well represented at Blue Monday) but it also includes towns like Murapara, Ōpōtiki and Kawerau where National traditionally fairs less well. And of course, many of Labour’s voters in these towns are also on the Māori roll. 

She’s also up against the fact that the campaign has now been suspended due to a change in alert levels. With just a few weeks to go before voting begins, Tapsell said all activities had been put on hold “until we can guarantee it’s safe”. In the meantime, her existing profile will have to do a lot of heavy lifting, along with the hundreds of hoardings her campaign team have put up across the electorate. 

If Tapsell wins, she wants a role in either local government or the environment. And if she loses, there’s always the possibility of a mayoral run which she said some had asked her to consider in 2019.

The last question I ask is perhaps the only one that throws her: if it weren’t for politics, what would she be doing right now?

“Having a life,” she jokes, before a long pause. “I don’t know, I’ve always been interested in serving the community, so whatever way or role I could do that, yeah.” Then, after another pause: “I’ve never thought about anything else.” 

Alex Braae’s travel to Matamata was made possible thanks to the support of Jucy, who have given him a Cabana van to use for the election campaign, and Z Energy, who gifted him a full tank of gas via Sharetank.

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