Bucket hat made from a patchwork quilt

Jordaan Tuitama, aka Creative Taro, made this hat to wear to Hīkoi mo te Tiriti in Wellington on 19 November, 2024.

Creative Taro
Jordaan Tuitama, aka Creative Taro, is a Māori-Samoan designer based in Newtown, Wellington.  He upcycles vintage textiles such as sports jerseys and quilts to create sustainable fashion pieces – mostly bucket hats. Jordaan credits his dad with inspiring his style, describing him as ‘a West Auckland representative Samoan man who thought he dressed suave’.

For Jordaan, the most important consideration in his work is the kaupapa of kaitiakitanga, of caring for the natural environment. The goal, he said, is to do your part for the environment while ‘looking swaggy at the same time’.

He said that he joined the hīkoi to continue the work of his ancestors, and that the feeling on the day was ‘kotahitanga at its finest’.

Hīkoi mō te Tiriti
The hīkoi mō te Tiriti was one of a series of protests or activations organised by Toitū te Tiriti, an activist group established in December 2023 in response to what they called ‘the Government’s assault on tangata whenua and Te Tiriti o Waitangi’.

A National-led coalition government came to power in November 2023, and in the first six months of its term proposed or implemented a number of divisive policies related to co-governance and Te Tiriti o Waitangi. One of the most controversial was the ACT Party’s Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill (introduced on 7 November 2024). The goal of the legislation, as stated on the ACT party website, was to ‘unwind the divisive modern “partnership” interpretation of the Treaty and restore its meaning to what was actually written and signed in 1840’. They proposed three draft principles: the New Zealand Government has the right to govern for all New Zealanders; the Government will honour all New Zealanders in the chieftainship of their land and all their property; all New Zealanders are equal under the law with the same rights and duties.

A number of legal challenges were made to the Waitangi Tribunal about the proposed Treaty Principles Bill, which the Tribunal commented on in an interim report released in August 2024. The Tribunal found, among other things, that the Crown’s agreement to pursue the Treaty Principles Bill belied the existence of the partnership between tangata whenua and the Crown established by the Treaty of Waitangi, that the Bill was fashioned on a distorted historical reality, and that if enacted, it would reduce the constitutional status of Te Tiriti/The Treaty, limit Māori rights and Crown obligations, and undermine social cohesion.
Toitū te Tiriti was founded by Eru Kapa-Kingi alongside Kiri Tamihere and Hohepa Thompson, and has strong links to Te Pāti Māori. In December 2023 they called for a ‘National Māori Action Day’ as Parliament restarted, and in May 2024 they followed this up with a series of ‘strikes’, timed to coincide with the government’s budget announcement.

Te Hīkoi mō te Tiriti was announced in mid-October 2024 and kicked off in Te Kāo on 10 November. Over nine days the group travelled from Cape Reinga to Parliament, with thousands of people joining urban activations in centres such as Rotorua, Hamilton, Auckland, and Palmerston North. The hīkoi consisted of vehicle convoys with runners covering the ground in between rallying points.

On Tuesday 19 November, the final day of the hīkoi, more than 42,000 people marched from Waitangi Park beside Te Papa to Parliament grounds. Among the dignitaries towards the front of the hīkoi was Māori Queen Nga wai hono i te po, who stood alongside Hone Harawira, Tuku Morgan, and Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke. A petition opposing the Treaty Principles Bill was presented with 203,653 signatures.

Afterwards, over 300,000 submissions on the Treaty Principles Bill were received by Parliament, with 90 percent opposed to it. The bill was voted down in Parliament on its second reading on 10 April 2025 (112 noes to 11 ayes). Every party except ACT voted against it.

References

---. 2024. ‘ACT launches Treaty Principles Bill information campaign.’ RNZ News, 7 February. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/508579/act-launches-treaty-principles-bill-information-campaign
---. 2025. ‘Celebrations at defeat of divisive Treaty Principles Bill’. RNZ News, 11 April. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/557804/celebrations-at-defeat-of-divisive-treaty-principles-bill
1 News Reporters. 2024. ‘Creative Kiwi turns pre-loved clothes into statement bucket hats.’ 1 News website, January 31. https://www.1news.co.nz/2024/01/31/creative-kiwi-turns-pre-loved-clothes-into-statement-bucket-hats/
1 News Reporters. 2024. ‘Tens of thousands take part as Hīkoi mō te Tiriti reaches Parliament’. 1 News website, 19 November. https://www.1news.co.nz/2024/11/19/tens-of-thousands-take-part-as-hikoi-mo-te-tiriti-reaches-parliament/
Corlett, Eva. 2024. ‘35,000 arrive at New Zealand parliament to protest against controversial Māori treaty bill – as it happened’. The Guardian, 19 November. https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/nov/19/maori-treaty-bill-protest-new-zealand-parliament-wellington-live-updates?filterKeyEvents=false#maincontent
Ruru, Karanama. 2024. ‘Hīkoi leader “excited and equally nervous” ahead of march for Treaty of Waitangi’. Stuff, 11 November. https://www.stuff.co.nz/te-ao-maori/360481678/hikoi-leader-excited-and-equally-nervous-ahead-march-treaty-waitangi
Seymour, David. 2024. ‘Information campaign launched to support Treaty Principles Bill’. ACT New Zealand website, 7 February. https://www.act.org.nz/information_campaign_launched_to_support_treaty_principles_bill
Stewart, Ella. 2024. ‘Launching the waka: The Māori activists rallying a year of protest’. RNZ News, 8 November. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/in-depth/533161/launching-the-waka-the-maori-activists-rallying-a-year-of-protest
Toitū te Tiriti. 2024. ‘Our Kaupapa’. https://toitutetiriti.co.nz/pages/kaupapa
Waitangi Tribunal. 2024. Ngā Mātāpono: The Principles: The Interim Report of the Tomokia Ngā Tatau o Matangireia – the Constitutional Kaupapa Inquiry Panel on the Crown’s Treaty Principles Bill and Treaty Clause Review Policies (Pre-Publication Version). https://www.waitangitribunal.govt.nz/en/news/tribunal-releases-report-on-treaty-principles-bill