Over the years, political incidents have become commonplace on a day which should be bringing us together.
Those who put effort into planning events at Waitangi and around the country, and the many people who attend and enjoy these celebrations, may be irritated that politics dominate coverage of it.
New Zealand First deputy leader Shane Jones expressed the forlorn hope yesterday that Waitangi Day should move on from being a score sheet or a tale of woe and grievance and evolve into a genuine day of happiness and national pride.
However, as long as there were ongoing ideological debates about the character and meaning of the country’s foundation document, he feared more and more New Zealanders would switch off, ‘‘less from the public holiday but more from the Treaty’’.
But his party, as part of the coalition agreement, which gave life to Act New Zealand’s contentious Treaty Principles Bill, cannot escape its involvement in the controversy surrounding it, or other contentious government policies affecting Māori.
Act leader David Seymour showed up to Waitangi yesterday but, as predicted, did not receive a warm reception.
Some of those present turned their backs on him and his microphone was also removed twice, limiting the ability of those present to hear all his speech.
That action, while showing the disdain for his message, may have been misguided. It is more likely to reinforce the views of some of his supporters, who see him as the plucky underdog telling it like it is, than anything else.
National’s Minister for Māori Development, Tama Potaka, who spoke in the absence of the Prime Minister, Christopher Luxon, and Mr Jones, also received the back-turning treatment.
If the Prime Minister thought he would avoid controversy by celebrating Waitangi Day at the Ōnuku Marae near Akaroa, it shows how little he grasps about the depth of feeling within Maoridom about the Bill and other government policies.
A cynic might also suggest his decision to go to Akaroa was an attempt to convince South Islanders the government cares about them.
He can argue, of course, he was from Christchurch and Akaroa is a place where he and his family have spent happy times and that it is important to celebrate Waitangi Day across the country.
However, as we previously suggested, he could have made an appearance at Waitangi and then headed elsewhere.
He says he has been to other formal events, and the last two Waitangi Days (where he did not cover himself in glory by delivering much of the same speech twice) at Waitangi, and he regularly meets iwi leaders.
Mr Luxon can also point to other prime ministers who, for one reason or another, have not attended the celebrations at Waitangi.
But such comparisons are irrelevant. Different times call for different actions.
This is a time when there has been a huge outpouring of feeling about the direction of the government on many fronts as seen in the Hīkoi mō Te Tiriti last year.
The concerns are not just from Māori.
As the Prime Minister and the leader of the government, Mr Luxon must front up to criticism, however uncomfortable he might find it and however unfair he might think it is.
If he has a vision of economic growth which will benefit Māori and ways the government can work better with Māori to provide such things as health services and infrastructure, then he needs to spell that out on our national day at Waitangi.
It is his job to lead, to provide reassurance people are seeking and not to scurry elsewhere when the going gets tough.
