Editorial: Some may protest, but today's a family day

Before leading a party of government ministers, MPs and officials onto Te Tii Marae at Waitangi for an official welcome yesterday, Prime Minister John Key was braced for a rough reception."Down on Te Tii Marae it's normally a pretty robust sort of environment." He also said politicians should expect the unexpected.

He should know. He has been roughed up, shouted down and held up for hours before going onto the marae. A T-shirt was thrown at Queen Elizabeth in 1990. Former Labour leader Helen Clark was humiliated by having her right to speak challenged in 1998 (she had the good sense to go elsewhere subsequently on Waitangi Day). Mud was thrown at National leader Don Brash in 2004.

Maori Land Court Judge David Ambler warned of trouble this year after he rejected an attempt to stop two appointments to the trust which runs the marae.

The judge did not accept that the marae's problems stemmed from a clash of law and culture. No other marae in the country had ended up in such deep dispute and division. Waitangi's problems were inherently political and involved "forceful personalities".

Notwithstanding his experiences, Key this week was encouraging families to go to Waitangi on Waitangi Day. It was a family day, he said. People shouldn't be deterred by what they see as the politicians getting "a bit of a hard time".

Many people obviously agree. Because this is the 175th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty, organisers of the main event at the Treaty grounds were expecting 30,000 for the dawn service today and the associated fair on nearby grounds.

Travel costs can be saved, however, and Waitangi Day programmes enjoyed in our own communities. These tend not to be marred by the impulse to protest that greets politicians at Waitangi.

In Timaru, for example, the whare tapere, or traditional Maori house of entertainment, comes to the courtyard outside Te Ana, providing an opportunity to learn traditional Maori games, or takaro.

It is instructive, however, that the Waitangi National Trust describes Waitangi Day as a day for New Zealanders of all communities, backgrounds and creeds to "commemorate" the signing of the Treaty, not to celebrate it.