Mr. Godfery, the political commentator, said Ms. Ardern’s government was in a bind.

“One of the interesting ironies to note is that her party has the most Maori M.P.s of any party in the history of the New Zealand Parliament,” he said of members of Parliament. “Yet on three of the biggest issues in the country — all three concerning Maori — they are absolutely stuck.”

In a sign of the lingering tensions, hundreds of people descended on Parliament on Tuesday to protest the treatment of Maori families by the country’s child welfare agency.

Ms. Ardern’s name has been on the lips of many at Ihumatao. Among them was Siobhan Grace, who likened the prime minister’s stance to “a piece of white bread with a really, really thin layer of mayonnaise on it.”

“She went to go meet the queen with a cloak of huia feathers, and it’s so special to have been gifted that, to show the world that you have some kind of understanding of indigenous culture,” Siobhan Grace said, referring to viral images of Ms. Ardern wearing a Maori cloak when meeting Queen Elizabeth II last year.

“That’s seeing the mayonnaise. And then her silence is taking the bite and tasting nothing.”