New Zealander of the Year: Tā Tipene O'Regan, the man who 'gives the gift of time'

Thursday, 31 March 2022

It takes “loving trickery” to render one of the nation’s most knowledgeable orators momentarily speechless.

Tā Tipene O’Regan – once described as an “intimidating” boardroom brawler – has been named the 2022 New Zealander of the Year.

O’Regan, driven by dreams of an equitable and bicultural nation, became a familiar figure in the nation’s consciousness as he led seven years of treaty negotiations over more than half the land mass of Aotearoa.

His award, announced at an online ceremony on Thursday night, was hailed as a “fitting tribute” to a “worthy recipient” by the two prime ministers who were close to him during the negotiations of the 1990s, Jim Bolger and Jenny Shipley.

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The 83-year-old was surrounded by the protective cloak of his whānau and iwi members when patron Miriama Kamo surprised them with the news in a private ceremony, after the pandemic caused the cancellation of the Auckland awards night.

Kamo said there “could be no other decision”, given his decades of mahi (work) for “whanau Māori, for iwi Māori, for the entirety of our country”.

“You have been an example for your entire life of exactly what this stands for, of striving for the finest achievements, of working for others, serving us all.”

It’s the tears that fill his failing eyes that set off the emotion among his nearest and dearest, who quickly erupt in applause.

As well as the work that culminated in the 1998 Te Tiriti o Waitangi settlement for Ngāi Tahu, O’Regan was the principal architect and negotiator of two fishery settlements, and has held an extensive list of roles that tap into his knowledge of history, business, and fisheries.

But his proudest achievement is forcing the Crown to recognise Ngāi Tahu as a legal person with official standing like any company or corporation.

What is still intimidating about O’Regan is his enormous depth of knowledge – which he will gladly impart to anyone who values it.

He tells Stuff he questions his relevance now, due to his age and believing he is now less engaged in frontline mahi.

He thought he was the “token” finalist compared to successful wāhine Māori finalists, Olympian Lisa Carrington and musician Hinewehi Mohi, coincidentally from the same whakapapa.

“I honestly didn’t see it coming.”

With a wry smile, he says, “for a historian not to be able to predict the future is a great weakness”.

Perfect timing

Ngāi Tahu kaiwhakahaere (chairwoman) Lisa Tumahai says seeing her mentor and “thorn in my side” honoured at this stage of his life is not only an acknowledgement of his legacy in the iwi, but for others, and the wider nation.

“What else do you do for someone like Tā Tipene O’Regan. This is Tā’s time.”

“He hasn’t stopped giving, he hasn’t stopped working.”

His son Gerard is proud of his father and his mother, Lady Sandra, who has been at his side.

Seeing him recognised in an iwi space, the Whitiora skills centre, is a fitting tribute to the kaumātua (elders) and whānau who inspired him in the early days of his work.

“How chuffed they would all be.”

Daughter Dr Hana O’Regan says the timing of the award is perfect.

In the last 12 months, he has been promoting green energy and finding solutions for the Southland region post-Tiwai aluminium smelter closure, continuing his work on marine reserves, strengthening the iwi’s archives, and furthering the education of the next generation.

Just last week, alongside CORE Education – of which she is tumu whakarae (chief executive) – he launched online field trips with 250 teachers registered to present to 20,000 tamariki.

“For someone who has given his life for service in that way, for kaupapa (principles), for rights, for knowledge transfer, the service of all of those things, to know that’s the space he is still in and still contributing, that’s why it was emotional.”

While many others his age might be slowing down, he finds new ways to keep participating.

He uses video conferencing to get around the pandemic isolation, and magnifying technology to help with his increasing macular degeneration.

“His sight is a really big thing to lose when you’re so obsessed with words and reading and literature,” she says.

Giving time is his “biggest gift”, even when children write to him asking for help with a school assignment.

“When time is so precious, he will still give it.”

Striving for change is ‘intergenerational’

Hana O’Regan says she and her four siblings, and now O’Regan’s mokopuna (grandchildren), have grown up talking with him about “what we can be as a nation”.

There were many sacrifices to whānau life as he was thrust into the limelight and came “under attack” over the years.

“Whether from politicians or redneck New Zealanders or people taking swipes around identity, ethnicity or Te Tiriti … over time, it’s hard to watch that publicly.”

But striving for change and “something bigger than yourself” is intergenerational, from both their Irish and Ngāi Tahu heritage.

Her Irish grandfather – surgeon, activist, and politician Rolland O’Regan – led the unsuccessful “no Māoris, no tour” Citizens' All Black Tour Association campaign to stop the 1960 South Africa tour, and he staunchly supported his Ngāi Tahu wife Rena Ruiha’s people.

“To see my father picking that stuff up, and still working on this … he is not somebody to give up.”

She says her father is a “huge source of inspiration for me”, particularly in fighting for equity for all and “the belief in hope”.

“If it’s worth committing to, make the commitment, and if it’s worth fighting for and not just selfishly motivated, then you do get results. Even if it is an intergenerational one.

“The legacy of tenacity and the legacy of drive and passion, and the legacy of perseverance of justice is something I have seen in him my whole life. It makes me so proud.”

The weight he’s carried

O’Regan senior has been publicly fighting for equity since his first published article in student paper Dialectic in 1969, discussing racial integration and the government’s handling of Māori land issues.

He says he aspires to “change the water in the bowl we are all swimming in”.

He remembers as a young boy hearing a World War II song about the “brave and strong” Māori battalion sung by Kiwi children as they played.

It united the nation, but race relations went downhill from there, with the “old race card a favoured tact” for politicians.

Settlement negotiations

A key player in progressing Ngāi Tahu’s stalled Treaty negotiations in the mid-1990s was former prime minister Jim Bolger.

Speaking this week, Bolger recalled he and Tā Tipene were always able to work on difficult issues “with total honesty”.

During the final stages of negotiations in 1996, people from both parties drifted away during a hui at parliament, leaving just the two men.

“It was very much a chief-to-chief negotiation, and we reached an agreement.”

While no compensation could ever equate to what was lost, the initial $170 million redress allowed the iwi to begin growing its resources.

The 1997 signing of the deed of settlement at Takahanga Marae, Kaikōura, was “a very, very special day,” Bolger says.

“Many within the National Party had urged me in a co-signed letter not to sign an agreement with Ngāi Tahu before the election because it would lose votes.

“My response was short – I just invited them to the signing.”

O’Regan helps “New Zealanders understand their country better”, and the award is a “fitting tribute”, Bolger says.

He stands for “being honest about the past, and being optimistic about the future, and we should be both”.

Former prime minister Jenny Shipley, who delivered the Crown’s 1998 apology to Ngāi Tahu at Ōnuku, calls O’Regan a “visionary New Zealander” and an “old, old friend”.

She felt privileged to witness the speech of a courageous and “groundbreaking leader” that day, describing him as an “outstanding orator”.

He reflected on more than 100 years of Ngāi Tahu experience, the last seven years of negotiations, and whether the settlement was enough – “completely transfixed as he spoke”.

“You could feel the weight he was carrying as he made that speech.”

She cannot think of a more worthy recipient, as someone who “contributed more than most in being able to see the future and give people the courage to grasp it”.

O’Regan frequently acknowledges the generations before, and those supporting him, and his mahi continues.

He is full of ideas about how to make Aotearoa better – decarbonising using an “extraordinary wealth of water”, harnessing hydrogen, and producing ammonia fertilisers.

He would like a formal constitution, referring to principles of Te Tiriti, that could “flow into the fabric of society” for all Kiwis.

“[I hope that] the people here by right of treaty recognise that fact, and people who are here because they’re mana whenua also recognise that, and we value each other’s contribution to the other,” he says.

He would also like to see Māori not only devote time to achieve equity in the wider population, but for them to think internally about how Aotearoa should be, and “what … we want to be in that”.

“I like to think as I come to this phase in my life that I’ve been able to contribute something towards that, but more importantly the process is going to go on.”