A media ban at Waitangi's Te Tii marae was "juvenile" and "silly" and showed how out of touch its trustees were, said New Zealand First leader Winston Peters.
Plans to remove the troubled Waitangi marae from any formal welcoming role on Waitangi Day are to be discussed by a group of Tai Tokerau leaders.
Sunrise at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds on Waitangi Day. Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
Waitangi National Trust Board chair Pita Paraone said Te Tii marae had once again shown it wasn't able to do its job on the day, following tensions during weekend celebrations.
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters did not go onto the marae on Sunday after a stand-off with an official while he spoke to media outside.
Mr Peters said the behaviour of some trustees was stupid and counterproductive.
Banning the media and trying to play them off against each other "couldn't be more silly".
"This is juvenile, immature, silly stuff and they should be identified as to their lack of capacity to lead the local area, so to speak, and moved on.
"They have no value to Waitangi or [Te] Tii Marae if that's how naive they are" - Winston Peters
Winston Peters outside Te Tii Marae on Sunday. Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
Mr Paraone said there was a growing consensus in Tai Tokerau that pōwhiri for the Crown and other dignitaries should be moved to the carved meeting house on the Treaty Grounds, Te Whare Runanga.
He said the Waitangi marae down the hill at Te Tii seemed incapable of organising a welcome for the Prime Minister. Its demands for money from the media this year and subsequent banning of cameras was unacceptable.
A tarpaulin put up to prevent media from filming proceedings on Te Tii Marae Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
Prime Minister Bill English attended events in Auckland instead of at Te Tii Marae after being told he could not speak there.
Marae officials hung up tarpaulins so media could not film proceedings from a public road, after they had refused to pay thousands of dollars to film on the grounds. Representatives blocked television cameras from filming Governor-General Dame Patsy's welcome on Saturday by hanging a tarpaulin over the only available gap in the hedge.
A senior trustee at Te Tii Marae, Emma Gibbs, told Morning Report the marae would have liked the press to have come to them six months in advance to find out more about them. "The press need to be aware of why we exist in the celebration of the Treaty of Waitangi."
"The press only comes in on the day that they presume trouble will happen." -Te Tii Marae trustee Emma Gibbs
The marae was run by volunteers who felt discouraged at how they were represented.
"You cannot continue to be graceful ... and keep getting political punching all the time, because it's all going down to politics.
"The press is seen as representative of political pushing as opposed to maintaining a gentle, continued tradition of being nice to people."
Mr Paraone said a small working group of Tai Tokerau leaders is to meet next month to discuss moving the pōwhiri.
"I wouldn't like to see a repeat of the shenanigans that has gone on this year" -Waitangi National Trust Board chair Pita Paraone
"Serious thought has to be given to relocating the official welcome to Waitangi to another venue."
If that happens the marae could lose most of the $18,000 in government funding it receives to host Waitangi events.
Te Tii Marae is where the Treaty of Waitangi was discussed and debated by rangatira of Ngāpuhi before it was signed further up the road on what is now known as the Waitangi Treaty Grounds.