Andrew Dickens: My theory on why the PM is avoiding Waitangi

Early Edition with Ryan Bridge · Feb 4, 2025 · 1m · transcript

This week it was the perennial should he or shouldn’t he go debate about the Prime Minister.

Personally, I’d always go to Waitangi if I were Prime Minister, even if it was just for one of the days of ceremonies.

The Air Force is weak but they’re perfectly capable of getting him to both Waitangi and Akaroa if he wanted to.

It’s said his non-attendance is a snub of Māori but there’s another way of looking at it.

He could be staying away because he doesn’t want to ruffle Māori feathers.

He has publicly said repeatedly that the Treaty Principles Bill is going nowhere so why go somewhere where…