Thousands of protestors gathered at Parliament on May 30, but Ōtaki School took its own protest onto the street in the town.

Staff had considered taking pupils to Parliament, but with the crowds expected it was decided to keep the protest local. Their actions were part of nationwide protests against government policies seen by the Toitū Te Tiriti movement as an “assault on tangata whenua and Te Tiriti o Waitangi”.

The school made the day an art day to create placards, and one of protest. 

“We incorporated some maths in there as well with tally charts for cars that toot etc,” says tumuaki (principal) Rauru Walker.

Some of the younger tamariki took their placards and stood briefly outside the school gates. The older students later walked with teachers and parents from the school along Mill Road to the Rāhui Road bridge spanning the expressway, where they held their placards up for passing traffic to see.

Many of the expressway drivers tooted in support, especially those in trucks.

The action wasn’t universally supported, however. A worker nearby commented to Ōtaki Today, when asked how his day was going: “Better than those idiots on the bridge – somebody needs a rocket.”

A post on Ōtaki Today’s Facebook page said: “Did anyone care to ask the students exactly what they were protesting? Or are they just wrapped up in a day off and the adrenaline from a protest (reason irrelevant)?”

Rauru defended the right of tamariki at his school to protest.

“We are aware that schools should be places where critical thought is encouraged, and shouldn’t be a place to tell tamariki what to think, especially when it comes to political issues,” he says. “So there have been age-appropriate discussions about these issues and why we’re doing the things that we’re doing.”

He says parents were offered other activities for their children if they weren’t comfortable with the protests, but none took up the offer.

“I know that not everyone will agree with our stance, and some of the hand gestures we saw from passing cars confirmed that, but that’s OK.  We had fantastic support from our parents who came out on the streets with us. If anyone has an opinion one way or the other that they would like to respectfully share with me, my door is always open. 

“I struggle to see how repealing anti-smoking laws, or not considering the cultural needs of a tamaiti [boy] when placing into foster care can in any way be a good thing for New Zealanders, but opinions make a society, so I’m open to chatting with people if they would like.”

The “day of activation” on May 30 led by the Toitū te Tiriti movement was to protest against government initiatives such as the repeal of Smokefree 2025 laws, the repeal of section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act, the Treaty Principles Bill, and the disestablishment of the Māori Health Authority and the Māori wards bill.