By Emma Jolliff
For the first time the Maori flag, or tino rangatiratanga flag, is being flown alongside the New Zealand flag at Parliament and other public buildings and landmarks - but it is not being flown at Waitangi, and it is still courting controversy around the country.
It was barely light when the flag was raised alongside the New Zealand flag on the Auckland Harbour Bridge this morning.
Anaru Martin performed a haka at the edge of the harbour as a spiritual endorsement.
"Telling the flag, the Maori flag, to stand proud and stand high," says Mr Martin.
At Parliament it is flying side by side with the New Zealand flag on the forecourt, and directly below the New Zealand ensign on the Beehive's single flagpole.
"The protocol for flags in that situation is the New Zealand one will be flown at the top and the Maori one directly below," says Euan McCabe, Parliament's flag manager.
While it is being flown only on Waitangi day, it is not being flown at Waitangi as it is not liked in the Far North.
"I think in Waitangi people are free to choose and fly any flag they want, or no flag at all - that's always going to be the position," says Prime Minister John Key. "We have constructed a view that we want to fly off the Auckland Harbour Bridge and Premier House, and I've got a picture of it flying there, or off Parliament, but in terms of private land people can do whatever they like."
Reaction at Parliament was mixed, and the choice of the tino rangatiratanga flag is still controversial. It is not flying at Onuku Marae near Akaroa, one Ngai Tahu iwi member describing it as nothing but trouble.
Manukau City Council is not flying the flag either.
"The majority of councillors considered that flying Hone Harawira's flag wouldn't be appropriate," says Daniel Newman.
Labour's Shane Jones says part of the resistance to tino rangatiratanga is because of its strong association with the Maori Party, but he acknowledges it is popular among Maori youth because of what he describes as a Maori renaissance in the last few decades.
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