Will's Word: Good luck to Luxon at Waitangi

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon returns to Waitangi today and so I say good luck.

It is never an easy room and especially after opting not to attend last year’s commemorations, he will have plenty to answer for as he sits down with iwi leaders.

He's not the first Prime Minister to skip Waitangi. Helen Clark did. John Key did. Bill English did. Staying away, in and of itself, is not unprecedented and not necessarily fatal.

But this feels different for Luxon.

It feels different for two reasons, one being it's election year. And two, because it feels like the Treaty conversation has never been louder and more politically charged than at any point in recent memory.

Luxon's absence last year will not go unnoticed. Nor will the tone he strikes.

Watch Labour and the Greens' press conference below.

Waitangi is accountability in its rawest form. Leaders are not protected by spin doctors there. They are challenged directly. Sometimes confronted directly.

Who can forget Helen Clark being reduced to tears. Or the moment an adult sex toy was thrown at Steven Joyce. Waitangi has a history of unpredictability and symbolism, doesn't it?

So all eyes will be on Christopher Luxon today. The way he will be received, the way he listens, how he responds.

Meanwhile on the other side of things, Labour and the Greens tried to put on a united front at Waitangi yesterday, but where on earth was Te Pāti Māori?