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Regional | Adrian Rurawhe

Little sticking by "beauty parade" comments

Labour leader Andrew Little is sticking by his comments he made in an RNZ interview about the annual Rātana celebrations saying, "It's a beauty parade."

However Little says it's the politicians he is referring to, not the people of Rātana Pā, “We go there, National goes there, NZ First, Greens, whoever else, we all go there and it was just about the little section with the politicians.”

Labour MP for Te Tai Hauāuru, and descendant of Tahupōtiki Wiremu Rātana, Adrian Rurawhe, is supportive of Little’s comments and says, “I’ve even said it myself that it's a little bit of a showpiece and it's not the substantive part of the relationship between Labour and Rātana.”

Rurawhe says the annual pilgrimmage to Rātana is often overshadowed by the visiting politicians and tikanga around their visit may need to be discussed by the people of the Pā, “That's a discussion that is probably timely and I would suggest that that discussion would happen.”

More on Te Kāea at 5:30pm and 7pm tonight.