We pay tribute in this issue of Kōkiri to the former Minister of Māori Affairs, Hon Parekura Horomia. His loss was deeply mourned and his passing united many who went to Hauiti Marae to pay their respects and celebrate his life. It was an amazing tangi: iwi Māori from around the motu, politicians from across the political spectrum, colleagues, friends and whānau came in their thousands. They shared many wonderful, touching and often hilarious stories of Parekura. He was the Minister of Māori Affairs for nearly three full terms. We talked with a number of people who worked closely with him during that time and shared their memories and insights about the man who was the Minister and of his impact and influence on improving the quality of life for Māori. - Michelle Hippolite

Ngahutoitoi Marae, Paeroa, 12 July 2003: Māori Affairs Minister Parekura Horomia was a bit crook, facing immense political and media pressure over a myriad of issues, and about to front up to iwi leaders from around the motu at a hui called by Hauraki over the Foreshore and Seabed issue.

It was the first hui on the issue which was fast shaping up to be the hottest kumara he would face in his eight years as Māori Affairs Minister and there were close to a thousand people there, including a large media contingent.

The Minister was in pain that day, but that would not stop him from fronting up. A true leader, he believed, did not cut and run when the going got tough, and politically, this was about as tough as it got.

When it was his time to speak, he got up slowly, the pain still evident to those closest to him, and delivered a masterful performance. He employed a skill that he drew upon frequently as a Minister, one that was honed growing up with his Nanny ‘Mum’ Jane in Mangatuna, his encyclopaedic knowledge of whakapapa and his intrinsic understanding of its importance to Māori.

He acknowledged, by name, the tipuna of the marae and those still living, and their stories. He looked around at those who had gathered and he started to talk to individuals, where they had come from, and their connection to him.

It was what he did at every hui he went to – every Koroneihana, every Ratana anniversary, every Māori Womens Welfare League event, every Māori Wardens Conference, every Māori Battalion reunion dinner, every tangi and school gala he dropped into. He did not have anyone to pass this information on to him. He just knew it. And it was one of the features about him that endeared him to Māori from all walks of life.

That day, after his whaikorero, while still united in their opposition to the Government’s attempts to wipe out the Appeal Court ruling on the Foreshore and Seabed, iwi leaders lay down their koha with the Minister to show their support of him.

Then Parekura did something that defined the kind of Minister he was remembered as. He went around the back and shucked a few mussels, and chatted with the pudding makers. He was, after all, a Minister of the People. The kind of Minister that would often call ‘Stop!’ from the back of his Ministerial limousine and get out and chat to the real people.

Looking back on the life and times of Parekura Horomia, it was as if his whole life was an apprenticeship to being the Minister of Māori Affairs.

Raised by his grandparents beside his beloved Hinemaurea Marae at Mangatuna, he was steeped in the traditions of his tipuna. He had been a fencer, a shearer, a printer, a scrub cutter, a farmer and a representative rugby player. And from an early age he was groomed to be a leader. A Māori warden at 18; a seat around the Tairawhiti District Māori Council in his early 20s and the rohe representative on the National Council; an early leader in Te Kōhanga Reo movement. They all shaped the way he felt about Māori development, Māori whānau and Māori well-being.

Then came the ‘finishing school’ to prepare him to become a Minister – a job in the public service. He started out as the coordinator for all the Department of Labour work schemes on the East Coast. Went on to develop the “Māori Perspective” in the Department of Labour after a stint as a field worker for the Department of Labour’s Community Employment Group before rising to be its head. He made friends at the highest levels of bureaucracy (then-Labour Minister Bill Birch was a fan) but never forget those at the grassroots.

In 1999 he was elected to Parliament, and before he even gave his maiden speech the MP for Ikaroa-Rawhiti had a Ministerial job in the education, employment, economic development and Māori affairs portfolios. Seven months later, aged 49, he was elevated to the Cabinet and to the job of Minister of Māori Affairs.

Around the high profile initiatives, Parekura rolled up his sleeves and worked under the radar to instigate change to help Māori be more self-sufficient, to be well educated and have jobs, to be in a position to determine their own futures.

While he worked for the public service, he had researched and developed plans for capacity building – including looking at initiatives overseas that had strengthened marginalised communities.

He wanted to build the infrastructure, management, and governance of Māori organisations around the country so they could deliver service that would support both social and economic development. And he used his seat around the Cabinet table to bring other agencies on board. He wanted change that was practical and useful to whānau and he recognised that that could often be better achieved at a local level.

He believed the work of the Māori Trustee should be independent of Government, and after nearly 15 years of that work being put into the ‘too hard’ basket, he introduced changes to Parliament in 2007.

Parekura drew upon his time as a Māori warden to introduce work to upskill Māori wardens, telling them he wanted them to move out of the carparks and into the homes and use their experience to support Māori families hurting from issues like domestic violence, truancy and youth at risk.

In 2004, he launched the new Māori Television Network – believing not only in its potential to help revitalise and sustain te reo Māori, but in its ability to support Māori telling Māori stories. Despite the fanfare of the new television network he did not forget iwi radio stations. In 2005, within a budget that allowed for few new initiatives, he secured a capital grant to take iwi radio network from its 20th century chewing gum infrastructure to bring in new technology, creating irirangi.net and a more sophisticated way of sharing content across the network. A couple of years later he secured an increase in operational funding for the network – allowing for the kind of upskilling that enabled Radio Ngāti Porou and the Te Aitanaga a Hauiti community to ‘livestream’ his tangi which was viewed 29,000 times from 103 countries.

And of that tangi, there is little doubt that he would have been proud of the way his community rose to the occasion and welcomed and fed more than 12,000 manuhiri from all walks of life. He would have cherished his family by his side, relished the debate, and laughed at the jokes. And he would have been itching to get out the back, shuck a few mussels and chat to the ringawera.