Labour leader David Cunliffe made his debut appearance
at Waitangi as their leader and tomorrow
he'll give his first prayer
in the sacred dawn service at Te Whare Runanga.
Our next guest will have some pointers for him,
we have Labour MP Shane Jones live with us now.
Tena koe, Shane.
Kia Ora tatou.
Our national day will start tomorrow morning
with a prayer service,
what should your leader be praying for?
David will need support for votes to come flooding in from everywhere
so that he is elected as our PM.
Does he have any other thing more
important to pray about?
Only the universe and the voters know how it will pan out.
However, how the mind of a voter works can be a mystery
for us politicians sometimes.
Tame Iti, one of the enduring faces of Maori protest
says he's moved on, is that significant in your view?
It is because Tame Iti is an icon.
I've known him for many years.
He won't have any problems going back to Tuhoe
and become a tribal elder and expert.
However our marae in the Far North remain open for Tame Iti
if he is ever these ways.
An incident free day at Te Tii,
do you think those that run the marae have done better
to keep proceedings on track?
I want everyone to know that for the marae committee
this is a very difficult event to manage
as the amount of people arriving is huge
and it attracts all types of people.
The people who look after the marae won't be able to please everyone.
However, I'm quite happy that there hasn't been any controversy,
there are some questionable individuals but such is the event.
The iwi leaders forum have had an audience
with high level ministers and the PM,
is violence still an issue you want them to address?
Yes, that's what I encourage our iwi leaders to do,
to discuss sexual and domestic abuse committed by Maori men.
For some of the people who are involved in the iwi leaders group
it's a lot easier for me to get in touch with Graeme Hart
than it is with them!
You weren't invited to the hui?
Even though I haven't been invited this time around
the next time they'll be rushing to try and get in touch with me
to invite me along.
When you're in Government you will get invited!
When we're in government!
Shane, your own ancestors signed the treaty,
what are your apirations for the future?
I aspire for our Far North children,
that they hold on to their culture
that their ancestors have given them.
There's Pana Kareao,
there was no person more influential than him in Muriwhenua
who signed the treaty.
Paraone Ngaruhe was another and other elders who signed it as well.
But yes, it's for them to hold on to their culture, their languge
and other things left for them to embrace and follow through.
We shouldn't let them inherit the leftovers of what we couldn't do.
We should be gearing them up for a bright future.
Shane Jones, thank you for your time.
Kia ora tatou!