Last night there was standing room only, with people sitting on tables. Others were standing.

The public are obviously seeing through the fake media reports that Julian is a racist and spreading poison.

The meeting progressed as usual.

10 or so Maori activists were inside, promising to obey ‘the rules’. What rules?

Not to interrupt Julian while he was speaking i.e. be respectful.

If people wanted to ask questions, they were to wait until the Q and A session at the end i.e. be patient and self controlled.

To their credit they did this, perfectly. They were, generally speaking, respectful.

Now this is where it gets interesting.

Among them, and sitting behind them, was what I would call ‘a senior / elder’ Maori woman.

She had a carved walking stick. She may have been a Kuia, as Maori call such people.

Before the meeting, I was told, she told the younger Maori to listen carefully, and to behave.

It was her presence, I am sure, which kept the young activists in line.

The meeting progressed in the usual way.

At the end, and as you’d expect, the young activists, one in particularly, was eager to ask questions, which she did.

Many people walked out as soon as she fired up, and the crowd thinned quickly.

She challenged the crowd not to listen to Julian, and not to believe in what he was saying.

She went on to say “I disagree with everything Julian said tonight”

To which Julian asked “Well, Ok. But give me an example of just one thing you disagree with”

Her answer “I didn’t like the way you said you liked Thai food and you were glad the Thai people were part of New Zealand Culture”

This came out of one part of the seminar where Julian said he was batting for all the 160 cultures living in New Zealand.

When Julian asked the Maori activist why Julian’s “like of Thai food and Thai people” was wrong / offensive, she could not say.

It just was.

What followed was a lot of to and frow between the crowd and this particular activist.

More people started to leave, or had already left. They sensed the meeting was about to degenerate into mindless debate.

The activist claimed that Europeans brought all the diseases to New Zealand, like the flu.

The implication was that before the arrival of Europeans, Maori were fit and healthy.

Never mind that life expectancy for Maori in 1840 was between 25 and 30.  Today it’s between 70 and 80.

She also said what Julian taught about the Treaty was wrong, and that the crowd should investigate the Treaty for themselves and not take Julian’s word for it.

The activist asked Julian “What are you afraid of if Maori get control of the country?”

His reply “Fear is not the issue. The issue has to do with legality. There is no mandate for co-governance or partnership in the Treaty. In fact the opposite. The Treaty clearly teaches that Maori ceded sovereignty in the Treaty, putting themselves under the crown, now the democratically elected government. Any talk of Maori governing the country without being elected by all the people to do so is treason. In short, and as such, it’s illegal and it must be stopped.”

And so it went on. The room was now only a third full.

Then the highlight came.

A Maori woman at the back, the senior Maori woman I mentioned, spoke up.

She spoke with authority. She said “A lot of the stuff you said tonight was true. It is true. We as Maori….we’ve got to accept it. We are one!”

She sounded and looked presidential. 

With that the remaining crowd clapped furiously.

It was a magical moment.

Then the Maori woman simply walked out.

The crowd dispersed.

Julian and his team began to pack down.

Some of the young activists came to talk to him. They were genuinely interested, now, in learning.

It was a magic moment.

To say it was a turning point on the tour maybe be premature.

But it was the first time a senior Maori woman had risen to her feet at the end of a meeting to fully and forcefully support Julian and his message.

Let’s believe together that the tide is starting to turn.

Last night we had a great meeting in Ashburton!

We never know how many people will come so when they started to pour in I was so thrilled for the small team in Ashburton who had done all the hard yards to get the people there.

Truly, the team in Ashburton have been amazing.

So, thank you to all the Ashburton people who came out on a cold night, and thank you especially to the team who got their rewards for their hard work and dedication.