Labour leader Chris Hipkins says he hopes the idea of kotahitanga Kiingi Tuheitia embraced can continue.

Mourners have carried Te Kiingi's casket to the top of Taupiri mountain for burial among his ancestors.

His youngest child has been anointed Queen as his successor - 27-year-old Ngā Wai hono i te pō.

Hipkins says New Zealand has much to learn from Tuheitia's message for New Zealand. 

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