FOR THE LOVE OF PEOPLE

"Who me? Why would you want me? I don't know anything about fish." This was the stunned response of Hana O'Regan when she was asked to sit on the Foreshore and Seabed Panel. The Māori education and culture specialist says it was an instinctive response. "I thought they must have the wrong O'Regan."

Her father, Tā Tipene O'Regan was the Chair of the Māori Fisheries Commission when it supported Ngāti Apa through its Court of Appeal hearing. Hana says while she grew up in a Treaty environment and had followed the Foreshore and Seabed furore, she thought she didn't have enough specialist knowledge to be involved in a review of the Act.

However, Hana's deep interest in the complex issues around Māori identity and belonging provided a depth and perspective that made her an attractive candidate across multi-party views and ultimately won her Cabinet approval.

Rather than excitement at being named on the panel alongside two eminent legal minds, Justice Edward Taihakurei Durie and Associate Law Professor Richard Boast, Hana said she felt the weight of history on her shoulders.

"The Foreshore and Seabed Act was the single most significant move by government that mobilised Māori in my memory. Besides I was dealing with thinking about how to introduce my child to school and other motherhood issues." She says being on the panel has been defining for her in terms of her career. "It was something I didn't think I could do, but I gave it my all. But nothing prepared me for the extent of the pain and anguish people were feeling," she says.

O'Regan knew that poetry and song were the only way she could capture the overwhelming emotion that had emerged during months of consultations and public hearings. The following words are part of a song she wrote on a flight home from Whanganui after an emotionally draining hui to discuss the Foreshore and Seabed Act:

Tērā tētahi whare i haka
I te marae ātea o Hine Tuaoneone
There was a house built
Upon the swept dunes of Hine Tuaoneone

Aurere ana te moana
Kurukuru ana te whenua
I te auētaka o te motu
Pākia ki uta, pākia ki tai
The sea groaned
The land growled
As the lament of the nation
Slapped upon shore and tide

Tērā tētahi whare i hika
I te marae ātea o Hine Tuaoneone e
There was a house that fell
On the swept dunes of Hine Tuaoneone

She says the personal cost of being a member on the review panel has been huge. Her baby son started having nightmares and anxiety issues.

But she continued the work with a great belief in mind. "I don't think our children should have to carry the weight of the things we don't have the guts to fix in our lifetime. If we don't do something in our generation, all we do is pass the problems onto the next."

FOR THE LOVE OF PEOPLE

Search For Calm Waters

Hīkoi

Going Global

For the Love of People

Māori Party Evolution

Inside Issue 45

SEARCH FOR CALM WATERS

THROUGH THE TREES

MEETING TŪTOKO

ULVA'S ISLAND

ARM STRONG

COUNTRY EXPEDITION

HAVE YIKE, WILL TRAVEL