Tariana Turia; Speech.
te-pati-maori
Sun Apr 29 2007 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)
Tariana Turia; Speech.
Sunday, 29 April 2007, 1:52 pm
Speech: The Maori Party
Te Kohao Health Services Fund-Raising Dinner;
Kirikiriroa Marae, Hamilton
Tariana Turia; Co-leader of the Maori Party
Friday 27 April 2007
2007 is a very important year in our history to be considering the process of change; the transitions from one life to another; the challenge of growth. It is a year in which equilibrium is balanced between past, present and future.
It is a time when Tainui and the nation, think back to the foundation set by the first Kingi Potatau te Wherowhero, the first Maori King.
It is a time when Tainui and the nation, grieve the loss of Dame Te Atairangikaahu. And it is a time when we honour and celebrate Kingi Tuheitia.
As we contemplate and consider the momentous events of last year, it is time to also think ahead to next year, 2008, when we will commemorate 150 years since the proclamation of Potatau as King, at the great ceremonial meeting at Ngaruawahia.
And it is right for us to recall the words of Kingi Potatau, as he responded to the solemn rites given by Iwikau te Heuheu and Wiremu Tamehana Tarapipipi te Waharoa. He said:
Kotahi te kohao o te ngira e kuhuna ai te miro ma, te miro pango, te miro whero. I muri kia mau ki te aroha, ki te ture, ki te whakapono.
Through the one eye of a needle, the white, black and red threads must pass. Hereafter hold fast to your love, uphold the laws and be firm in the faith.
When I was invited to attend this wonderful occasion for celebration, this celebrity dinner, I could not help but think of the tremendous richness, the wealth of history that Te Kohao Health Services is built on.
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Te miro ma, te miro pango, te miro whero
Te Miro Ma: The History
The words of Kingi Potatau – the whakatauaki from which your organization is based - offer many illuminating interpretations.
I want tonight, to think of the three strands to harmony and understanding, as having their source in our past, present, future.
It is not for me, as uri o te Awa Tupua, to come to another river and tell you of your history.
But I mihi to Waikato, of whose river it is said, He piko, he taniwha, he piko, he taniwha.
I commend you for the strength of your past, from which Te Kohao Health has developed. I am speaking, of course, of a history beyond 1994 in which you first opened your doors.
It is because of the vigour of that history, that you are able to set yourself a mission – te paerangi ki mua – which gives a commitment to the present and the future.
Whaia te pae tawhiti kia tata; whaia te pae tata kia mau
Cast a discerning eye on the immediate tasks, while keeping the other eye steadfast on the distant horizon.
Tonight is very much about that distant horizon.
And in order to reach the goals you have set yourself – to provide high quality health, social, education and justice services – we need to know how to get there.
How to attain all that we aspire towards is perhaps the number one challenge confronting us all. What we do today influences tomorrow.
Te Miro Pango: The Present
The every day mahi of Te Kohao; the immediate tasks, is unbelievably full.
There is the bread and butter business with the Waikato District Health Board; the Ministry of Health; the Kirikiriroa Family Services Trust (Family Start); with Te Runanga o Kirikiriroa and Maatua Whangai o Kirikiriroa; with ACC; Disability Support Link, with Child, Youth and Family and Sport Waikato.
And that’s just pushing pen to paper before you even see Nga Kakano o te ira tangata – the people who are the focus of Te Kohao.
In setting yourselves up as a provider by Maori for all people, you have taken on a fierce workload including:
• Auahi kore - Smoke-free health promotion to rangatahi, matua, kaumatua including education, coaching and mentoring;
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• Home help, child care, registered nursing care;
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• Cardiovascular rehabilitation;
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• Disability assessments;
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• Management of lung disease, diabetes and heart disease;
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• Immunization, vaccinations and health checks;
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• Mirimiri, waiata tawhito, rongoa, tai chi
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• Residential care
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• Strengthening families
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• Te wai o Rona diabetes prevention strategy
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• Health assessments for Family Group Conferences and youth justice services
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• Podiatry clinic, asthma clinic, retinal screening
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• Cervical screening;
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• General practitioner services, community nursing and minor surgery;
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• and finally Cryotherapy.
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I wasn’t sure whether this is the therapy I resorted to when Labour stole the foreshore and seabed.
You know, the Maori Party has been on the road for the last three weeks. We have literally traveled through Dunedin, Invercargill, Temuka, Ashburton, Christchurch, Kaikoura, Napier, Hastings, Porangahau, Waipukurau, Dannevirke, Masterton, Greytown, before we came to Tainui.
And I thought I was busy!
But when I cast my eyes over the work that Te Kohao Health is doing – twenty different health services, a staff of 85, a potential client base of 21,000 Maori in Hamilton, 65,000 Waikato wide…..well, it’s enough to make anyone tired.
So how they had time to organize this dinner, let alone devise a fund-raising strategy with a modest target of raising three million dollars a year – is beyond belief!
Te Miro Whero: the Future
But if I know one thing about Tureiti Moxon, it’s that she’s not one to sit at home and surf the channels or while the hours away doing embroidery.
The only embroidery Tureiti can focus on, is threading the pathway for a future vision. And it is an amazing vision.
Te Kohao has set their sights on “living our tino rangatiratanga through strong, healthy, vibrant whanau”.
And it is here that you really have your work cut out for you.
Because if there is one message I will leave for you tonight, is that Rangatiratanga requires Hard work. Rangatiratanga defined another way is about the three Rs, and that’s over and above advancing our own riting, reading and ‘rithmatic.
Rangatiratanga is certainly about our rights to plan our own pathway forward, to set our directions into the horizons we aspire for ourselves.
Rangatiratanga is also about that notion of reciprocity, of honouring the collective, of making the effort to advance the self-determination of the people. Knowing that the people are our greatest resource and taking the time to work together.
And Rangatiratanga is about responsibility. Responsibility for caring for the tangible and the intangible. Taking up the responsibility to do what you can, to achieve strong healthy, vibrant whanau.
Te Kohao – you have set yourselves an impressive blueprint for your future success.
I know something of the excitement with which you are planning for a larger GP clinic, a pharmacy, a gym, a café, rongoa services, a room for kaumatua, mirimiri, a Health and Wellness clinic. This is the distant horizon you are looking towards. Te Kohao – I mihi to you for your progress and your aspirations – your vision and your foresight.
Our focus as the Maori Party is on the growth of healthy, resilient independent people: Te Pahauteanga o te iwi Maori kei konei kei Aotearoa nei, a, kei te ao whanui.
We constantly strive to set our sights on the ways and means by which we can we harness the potential of our people to thrive. We know that upholding Te Tiriti o Waitangi as the foundation of our nation – te Matua Roa – is essential to this pathway – and we see you doing that here.
In all our analysis and all our speeches, we promote the view that the best solutions are determined by the people themselves – and that is what you are doing here.
In our advocacy and our activism, in our political negotiations and our commitment to returning to the people, kanohi ki te kanohi, we demand an opportunity for people to participate – for the voices to be heard. We talk about all New Zealanders having due access to justice, and we talk about the need to work collectively in the interests of the people. This is what I see happening here at Kirikiriroa.
Coming to something like tonight, is therefore, like a huge boost for me, and for the Maori Party. It is moments like tonight that keep my spirits up, that inspire my hoping and dreaming of the world I want my mokopuna to live in.
It is a vision worth investing in. It takes courage, it takes hard work, and it takes funds. I wish you all the best in your journey ahead.
Ends
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