Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says she won’t be visiting Ihumātao this week amid promises of a march on her office if she doesn’t.
But she may be meeting with some of those involved in the ongoing dispute, and discussing it with the Māori King on Tuesday.
Ardern has repeatedly refused an invite from those occupying the South Auckland land.
The protesters – who are trying to stop a housing development – have launched a petition, saying they’ll march to deliver it to the Prime Minister’s Mount Albert office on Thursday if she hasn’t come around by then
On Monday, Ardern told reporters she had no plans to visit this week.
“Visiting doesn’t get us closer to a resolution. It ultimately needs to come from mana whenua. I haven’t ruled out visiting in the future, but right now I see it as a distraction to finding a resolution,” she said.
“At the moment I am here in Wellington [on Thursday]. I have no current intention to visit this week.”
But Ardern will on Tuesday be visiting Tūrangawaewae Marae in Ngāruawāhia for King Tuheitia’s annual coronation commemorations, Koroneihana.
SOURCE:- NZ Herald.
