Hon Tariana Turia
Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector
*Fiji Day Celebration: Fiji Islands 40th Independence Anniversary Programme* *
Fairfield College, Chartwell, Hamilton*

Bula Vinaka; Namaste; tena koutou katoa.

I want to firstly acknowledge the privilege you have accorded me, in inviting me to provide the Independence Day Address for this Fiji Day Celebration.

I come to you in my capacity as the Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector, to acknowledge the significance of this event as a model of community collaboration.

What you are doing today is creating history, in honouring your connections to Fiji – and your connections to each other.

And so it is only right, that I too, make explicit the connections that bind us together, as peoples of the Pacific, living here in Aotearoa.

This morning as I left my tribal home of Whanganui I thought of an event that took place some 47 years ago, when Ratu Edward Cakobau was welcomed onto Putiki Marae in the heart of Whanganui.

Ratu’s grandfather, ‘Tui Viti’, together with other High Chiefs of Fiji, ceded the islands of Fiji to Queen Victoria in 1874, thereby directly linking us all to the event that brings us here today; the 40^th Year anniversary of Fijian Independence in 1970.

Ratu came to Whanganui in 1963 to visit his sons, Drew and Tuki, who were studying at Whanganui Technical College. In response to the hospitality of the people of Putiki, the Ariki extended an invitation for Putiki Maori Club to visit Fiji – a visit which duly took place in 1966.

During that visit our people were taken into the villages and homes of Mbureta and Lovoni where they were welcomed with all due ritual, and presented with the Tabua – the tooth of the whale.

These ceremonies – and indeed the word Tabua – connecting to our own concept of Tapu – reminds us of the vitality of our cultures, the histories and traditions and values which are the essential expression of who we are.

In the reports that have been passed down of that encounter, we read of the sacred respect and acknowledgements accorded to some of my elders – Tamahina Tinirau; Hera Paranetana; Ngene Takarangi, Paeroa Hawea; Wiremu Taiaroa – and many others.

I share with you that story, because it reminds me of the precious relationships that there have been between our peoples, in years gone by; relationships which provide a foundation for future connections to be made.

And so today, in this very auspicious anniversary programme, I was delighted to see the theme of cultural diversity given such prominence in the bringing together of the peoples of Fiji.

When I heard earlier this year that the */Waikato Fiji Association /*(a group with predominantly Fijian-Indian membership) was working alongside of the */Fiji Waikato Community /*(a group with predominantly indigenous Fijian membership) it seemed to me a very important opportunity to recognise the rich cultural diversity of the Fiji Islands.

Tomorrow marks the official anniversary of Fiji Day – a day in which the people of Fiji declared their political independence from Great Britain, while also celebrating their distinctive diversity as a multicultural nation. Fiji is now home to the indigenous Fijian people; indo-Fijian, European, Chinese, other Pasifika peoples and people of mixed racial descent. English, Fijian and Hindi languages are taught in school as part of the curricula.

Earlier this year, in February 2010, the Fiji National Report to the United Nations General Assembly had this to say, about the historic anniversary we celebrate today.

/“The people of Fiji embraced their independence, full of enthusiasm, excited by the prospect of deciding their own future and believing that their communities as a whole, would work together in order to achieve a better life for all”./

Two months later, here in Hamilton on 9 April, your two organisations, the Waikato Fiji Association and the Fiji Waikato Community, signed a Memorandum of Understanding to work collaboratively on this event for Fiji Day 2010.

And here we all are, six months later, the success of this event demonstration the potential and the value there is for working collaboratively together.

I am really proud that my department, the Local Government and Community Branch of Internal Affairs, has been able to walk alongside you, to support you in the process of building your relationship.

And I want to particularly acknowledge the enthusiasm and guidance of Jenny Nand in supporting you to develop stronger partnerships for the Fijian communities living here in Aotearoa.

But essentially, this day, this collaboration, could not happen unless you wanted it to happen.

And it is in the leadership of people such as Jalesi Nakarawa from the Fiji Waikato Community and Nirmal Singh from the Fiji Waikato Association, that we owe a special recognition for creating such a fantastic event.

This is all about finding points of common interests; focusing on what connects us and brings us together.

I am a firm believer in the power of the collective – the aspirations and the goals that the people seek for themselves.

There is often talk that we should all be one people. I myself, have never subscribed to that view.

To me, cultural diversity –the theme for your celebrations today – is something that we should absolutely cherish. It is about holding to the very essence of who we are – protecting our uniqueness, celebrating our distinctive identities, valuing our traditions, our protocols, our stories, our ways.

Today we celebrate the relationships between diverse peoples – but we also celebrate the expression of kotahitanga – the purpose that brings us all here tonight.

And so, as I come to honour you and your ways – I come also to share in a an event which celebrates and binds us together, and unites us in our journey forward.

Ultimately, the expression of nationhood will be manifest in the ways in which we come together, each of us proud of our uniqueness, while also embracing the opportunity to see what can be done together.

It is, only right, that I leave the last word of my address, to the inspiration left us from within this tribal rohe.

Kingi Potatau, in 1858 in Ngaruawahia, laid down a message which in many ways gives us the recipe for making a great nation, even stronger.

“Kotahi te kohao o te ngira e kuhuna ai te miro ma, te miro pango, te miro whero. I muri kia mau ki te aroha, ki te ture, ki te whakapono”./

Through the one eye of a needle, the white, black and red threads must pass. Hereafter hold fast to your love, uphold the laws and be firm in the faith. /

Today, as we officially celebrate the coming together of leaders and the families of the indigenous Fijian community and the Fijian Indian community, it is right and proper to also acknowledge the mana whenua of this area – and to think of that wonderful image of connecting the white, black and red threads together.

I congratulate you on the investment you have made in kotahitanga – the spirit of partnership and collaboration which connects us all together.

Tena tatou katoa

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