Green party policy announcement at Waitangi celebrations OPINION: At Waitangi yesterday, while the prime minister was in Whangārei speaking to a virtual Iwi Leaders Forum, the Greens were were revealing their new Māori policy platform, which included a new commissioning Māori health authority. The parliamentary Māori Party was nowhere to be seen. The Māori Party wasn’t there because last week, in the midst of news that there were cases of Covid-19 in the community – including one in Northland – the party decided to announce that it wasn’t going to attend Waitangi on safety grounds. There had not been, and there still isn’t, any evidence of community transmission of the virus.