Nā Tina Wickliffe nō Taioro
Ko te mana tuatahi ko Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Hei aha te hoko, hī!”
The words of Te Kooti rang out across a New Zealand First public meeting in Tūranga on Sunday night, delivered not from the stage, but by well-known local protester Sharon Campbell.
Kōkā Sharon disrupted the meeting as New Zealand First Minister Shane Jones addressed the Gisborne community, challenging him over Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the direction of the Government.
Jones told Campbell it was not her meeting and asked her to leave, saying he had come to speak to the Gisborne community.
Campbell continued her protest before being removed by police from the meeting. As she was escorted out, she directed a final rebuke at Jones.
“Moumou tangata ki te pō. Shame on you, Shane, shame on you, Shane, shame on you, selling out our people.”
Jones later addressed the disruption, telling those gathered that politicians could be reluctant to visit the region because of such confrontations. However, he defended holding public meetings where people could challenge him.
“We want people to ask questions, and those questions that she raised, we have a manifesto, a different view, and if you don’t like it, vote against it. Simple as that.”
Campbell has been widely described as a protester following the confrontation, but in Tūranga she is also known as an educator, a reo Māori stalwart, a mother and grandmother, and for her long history of speaking out on Māori issues.
She says her presence at the meeting was driven by concern for the generations coming after her.
“Mō ngā mokopuna te take. Koirā te take ka tae ā-kanohi, whakatūtū ana i te puehu, whakatakoto te mānuka.”
“For the mokopuna. That’s why I turn up, stir things up and lay down the challenge.”
Campbell also used the confrontation to deliver an election-year message of her own, urging Māori to enrol and vote.
“Me whakakī tō pepa kia pōti. Pōti! Āna, hī!”
Her message is clear. She wants Māori at the ballot box, and she wants the current Government voted out.
