Aotearoa New Zealand celebrates 186th Waitangi Day with calls for unity

Aotearoa New Zealand has celebrated its national day with calls for unity and the reinstatement of Māori health and cultural services.

Political leaders had earlier clashed over the meaning and implementation of New Zealand’s founding document the Treaty of Waitangi, signed between the Crown and Māori in 1840.

The country’s deputy prime minister brushed off criticism of his claims that colonisation had been positive for the Indigenous population, and labelled hecklers “muppets”.

This year’s celebrations came under the shadow of deadly North Island floods and landslides in recent weeks.

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