Wahine Maori Support for Tania Martin, Chair of Te Kauhanganui

Strong Support from Maori Women for Te Kauhanganui Chair Tania Martin.  

Te Whaainga Wahine Maori women’s network, express their support of Tania Martin, the Chairperson of Tainui Tribal Parliament, Te Kauhanganui.   Spokes people for Te Whaainga Wahine Denise Messiter and Irene Kereama-Royal said the approach being used by the tribe’s executive Te Arataura, to discredit and oust her is essentially the same one the Maori Party is using on Hone Harawira. Systemic bullying, dressed up in constitutional policy and procedure, with lashings of cultural rhetoric is an approach that reeks of deception and corruption.  Martin like Harawira has acted with integrity.   She has identified what’s not working, where the problem lies and has suggested solutions to improve the situation. It’s not rocket science.  People expect their leaders to tell the truth and give them some guidance to help resolve any problems.

 Kereama-Royal and Messiter say “Tania is a professional.   She knows right from wrong and good process that is steeped in tikanga Maori. Her actions have shown that she has her peoples’ wellbeing at heart.  We commend her for having the courage to review her Parliament’s spending and to release the findings, which includes decreasing Te Arataura expenditure so that she can increase distributions to her people. Cutting back on operational spending is not a radical recommendation, it is what you would expect a competent Chair to recommend, based on the evidence placed before her.”  

 Te Whaainga Wahine is committed to ensuring that Maori women’s voices are heard on issues and decisions that impact on whenua, whanau and hapu wellbeing and is calling for more accountability amongst Maori leadership in achieving this.

 
Media enquires:

Denise Messiter ph 07 868475 or 0276443359 email denise.messiter@xtra.co.nz

 

Irene-Kereama-Royal email ikereamaroyal@gmail.com