Watch: Jacinda Ardern calls offer to bury placenta at Waitangi a 'significant gesture'

February 5, 2018

Labour MP Peeni Henare is said to have made the initial suggestion to the PM.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said the offer to bury her placenta at Waitangi is a "significant gesture" and one she will talk over with partner Clarke Gayford.

Speaking to media after her historic Waitangi address today, Ms Ardern was asked what she thought of Labour MP Peeni Henare's offer to bring her placenta back to Waitangi after the birth of her child.

"That is something of course I would like to talk to my partner Clarke about, we haven't had that opportunity yet.

"The fact that the suggestion was made and that there were elders alongside me who really acknowledged that, it felt like a significant gesture, a really symbolic one and it meant a lot to me," she said.

Earlier Ms Ardern addressed the crowd from the porch of Te Whare Runanga in a speech which focused on the need for open dialogue between Maori and the Crown in the interest of moving the country forward.

Ardern is the first female Prime Minister to speak from the porch of Te Whare Runanga.

"If we don't speak freely how do we change?" Ms Ardern asked.

"Our relationship goes beyond the negotiating table and it will go on with strength and hope," she went on to say about her plans for the future between Maori and the Government.

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