The rāhui at Tongariro can get whakd’

Once again, the rest of New Zealand is being told to stay off land that actually belongs to all of us. This time it’s Tongariro, one of our most iconic landmarks, closed under a rāhui that nobody voted for and nobody knows when it will end.

We’re told it’s to let the maunga rest after a fire. Fair enough, nature heals, but why does that mean ordinary Kiwis are banned from walking their own tracks? Fire and Emergency are already doing the recovery work. The mountain doesn’t need a week of spiritual ceremony, it needs common sense.

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This is the problem with rāhui. When do they end? Who decides? What started as a short pause for reflection is now being used as a control mechanism by a handful of self-appointed iwi elite who think they own the bloody mountain. Next it will be our lakes, then our beaches, then every national park fenced off in the name of healing the “whenua.”

Tongariro belongs to all New Zealanders. No one is stopping us from walking there except a group of elite Māori who have decided they know better than the rest of us. That is not kaitiakitanga, that is gatekeeping.

If this keeps up, we’ll be the ones needing a rāhui from all this cultural overreach.