New Zealand has celebrated its national day with calls for unity and the reinstatement of Maori health and cultural services.
Political leaders had earlier clashed over the meaning and implementation of Aotearoa’s founding document the Treaty of Waitangi, signed between the Crown and Maori in 1840.
The country’s deputy prime minister brushed off criticism on his claims that colonisation had been positive for the Indigenous population, and labelled hecklers “muppets”.
This year’s celebrations, under the shadow of deadly North Island floods and landslides in recent weeks.
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