Ka Hao te Rakatahi: My Whakapapa is My Inheretence

Hineātea Alexander

Ka Hao te Rakatahi: My Whakapapa is My Inheretence

I recently made a submission opposing the Treaty Principles Bill because I care deeply about the future of Aotearoa.

I wrote my submission alongside three generations of my whānau because as a whānau we care about Te Tiriti and making sure it is upheld.

There are many reasons I opposed the Bill, most of which have been well articulated by the people who submitted before me.

The one I want to focus on comes from my perspective as a rakatahi who will live with the weight of the decisions of today in the future as I become an adult.

I have two middle names – Jeannie and Maurihia. They come from both my taua, a takata whenua wahine and my grandma, a takata tiriti woman.

My whakapapa is my inheritance, and I am very proud of my rich whakapapa sewn together, along with my lived experience of growing up with a diverse community and group of friends
which all ends with me sitting here.

I am not a blank canvas.

As my Moeraki whanauka Justin Tipa said in his recent Waitangi Day address
to the nation: ‘A nation is not a blank canvas!’

There is no way to change my whakapapa and there is no way we can change our country’s history.

‘It’s an inheritance.
It’s our inheritance – all New Zealanders.
It’s a real place, home to real people living real lives, whose collective experiences have shaped a real and defined history.’

I’ve been thinking about the impact of this moment in time and what the inheritance of myself and other rakatahi across Aotearoa will be, and would like to offer two possible scenarios for
consideration:

The first, one where this bill is given more time to set the scene for fearmongering and division that will ultimately further break down the diverse communities that

I am a part of and incite racism where it has not existed in my lifetime. This scenario promotes the idea that if they get something, I will lose something.
The reality is, we will all lose.

The second, one without racism where the people in positions of power have strengthened the role of Te Tiriti in decisionmaking to ensure a positive and inclusive future for every single person who calls Aotearoa home.

This means our decision-makers need to recognise where people are at and take our many and varied interests to make informed decisions underpinned by Te Tiriti.

What these scenarios show is that racism is what divides us, not Te Tiriti.

I want to thank the Justice Select Committee for giving myself and other rakatahi a voice in this process, as our voice is often missing in democracy.

Because I care about the future and young people’s voice in it, before my closing remarks I would like to encourage those in power to look for ways of bringing young people into discussions in ways that are meaningful and to genuinely hear us.

My personal belief is that as a country we need to consider lowering the voting age to 16 and make sure that at school we learn what it means and how to go about fully participating in civil society.

But back to the kaupapa at hand … I am Māori, I am Pākehā, I am uniquely me.

I am a product of Aotearoa, a country with a unique identity founded on a partnership agreement – Te Tiriti.

I have been shaped by my past, I am real in the now, and I will inherit the future. Te Tiriti is in my DNA, I live in hope that it will remain firmly so in what comes next.

For that reason I, like my whānau and many other New Zealanders, strongly opposed this Bill.

Hineātea Alexander (Kāi Tahu,
Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Whitikaupeka, Pākehā) is a student at Rudolf Steiner in Ōtautahi and currently holds the position of the youth MP for Duncan Webb (Labour
– Christchurch Central).

She has a passion for ensuring that rakatahi have a voice in our communities and are active participants in all that matters to them about their futures.