Maori Party Presidency Speech - Incoming President Address

te-pati-maori

Sat Jul 13 2013 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)

Maori Party Presidency Speech - Incoming President Address

Saturday, 13 July 2013, 12:57 pm
Speech: The Maori Party

Rangimarie Naida Glavish

Saturday 13 July 2013

Kia ora Tatou.

Efforts to define leadership are debated day in day out right around the world.

Since time began, human beings as social beings have formed groups to survive and to thrive and have chosen many ways to choose, elect, select, and compete to find a leader.

I have lost count of the number of times I have heard people say: “We need better leadership!”

And you know, most often it is uttered by those who will not put up their own hand, but stand in the wings complaining about how others lead.

In Te Ao Maori, leadership has always been a matter of whakapapa, and not just whakapapa in terms of lineage, but a deeper and wider sense of destiny, of what was meant to be, of taking ones place as deemed by one’s ancestors and elders.

The story of my experience making a stand to use the greeting Kia Ora as a toll operator is one that the media love to tell.

But people do not often hear the back-story to the tale, which was when I doubted my stand, I heard the voice of my grandmother urging me to continue to make that stand, because it wasn’t about me, it was a matter of far greater importance than myself and my petty concerns.

My grandmother was reminding me that to be of service to protect a taonga such as Te Reo Maori was of the utmost importance, and indeed a matter of my destiny.

But the most important thing in the Maori concept of leadership is that it is never all about one person.

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It is always about a collective and leadership across a range of skills and a range of needs.

The greatest model I know for leadership is seen in the tikanga or protocol of the marae. Everyone and everything has its perfect place.

And it is a matter of all functions; from the ringawera in the kitchen to the oratory of the kaumatua, all having their place, their equal place with equal importance playing a part in one greater whole.

In today’s mainstream world, so much has been lost from community, so much has been lost from loving one’s neighbor as oneself, so much has been lost from putting another ahead of oneself.

We all yearn for belonging and yet the modern world puts simple belonging, and being loved unconditionally beyond the reach of many.

In the Maori world, the consideration of the whanau, the community, the collective never diminishes.

The cynical might say there are people of Maori descent that fall short of being community minded, and fall to the wrong side of the tracks.

But my experience has been that even for those that have lost their way, they never ever lose that desire to belong, and to care for their whanau, for their community even if they have fallen into dysfunctional ways of being.

It is great initiatives such as Whanau Ora that the Maori Party has fought to bring forward that will give us a chance to bring back those ways of being that consider all elements of our wellness; physical, mental and spiritual health, tinana, hinengaro and wairua.

What ever the trials or tribulations of the Party Maori in recent times, there is one aspect that will remain resolute; it is a party that is based on kaupapa.

And that kaupapa is to value above all else, the values and vision of Maori to be self determined, to strive for our wellbeing on our own terms, because that is the only way we can be whole. It is simply a matter of our mana our way.

If it is one thing that is dear to my heart amongst the wonderful elements of tikanga that forms my life and the life of Maori, it is the concept of Manaakitanga.

Manaakitanga as with many of our concepts in Maori has great depth and breadth.

It is about care for others above and beyond oneself.

It is about anticipating what another needs before they need to ask.

It is about contributing to a greater whole, providing for others, loving unconditionally and without judgment.

Manaakitanga in its most simple translation is about being of service.

And so, to lead is to be of service.

The servant leader is an idea that is starting to take hold in the best practice teaching about leadership in business around the world.

I have to smile because we as Maori have been doing servant leadership for thousands of years.

And so now I offer myself in service to this party, to my people and to my country.

Aotearoa New Zealand punches above its weight on the world stage time and time again. And one should never underestimate the contribution of Maori to our nation’s global impact.

It is my belief that if we can truly function as a bicultural society we can offer the world so, so much.

Some people see me as a tough nut, and someone not to cross. Perhaps that is my Croatian side. You could even say as a Tarara I’ve got a double lineage of being staunch.

But those who do actually know me, know that I never waiver from offering manaaki, to friends and foes alike.

Today, that is what I offer the Maori Party and our people, my service.

Maha rawa wa tatou mahi te kore mahi tonu

Tawhiti rawa to tatou haerenga te kore haere tonu.

ends

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