The next steps following the He Puapua report have been revealed by Maori Development Minister Willie Jackson, but specific plans for change will only come after lengthy consultations with both Māori and Pākehā
Minister for Māori Development Willie Jackson has set out the Government’s next two moves following the recommendations of the controversial He Puapua report
As first reported by Newsroom, the consultation will begin with iwi and Māori organisations over the next six months, before opening up to the wider public and letting them have their say.
The findings of both phases will help form the Government’s plan to honour an agreement made in 2010, when the National government of the time signed the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
The plan for how New Zealand will meet commitments under the declaration, which focuses on improving outcomes for indigenous peoples, will be ready by the end of 2022, Jackson said.
Jackson, speaking at Ngā Whare Waatea Marae in Mangere, was keen to address accusations of separatism made by those who question the plan’s Māori-focused approach.
“We want to start the conversations about the declaration first with Māori,” Jackson said. “It’s not racist or separatist - it is called the indigenous declaration, so it probably makes sense to talk with indigenous people first.”
He said the recent uproar around moves toward Māori co-governance were disappointing and confusing.
“The Declaration was never meant to divide us. It is not a tool for separatism. It is not something to be afraid of.”
The Opposition leader, Judith Collins, said Jackson's announcement was a sign of things to come for New Zealand.
“Minister Jackson has called the He Puapua report a ‘starting point’ and ‘catalyst’, which is concerning given how far the document goes towards a future of an increasingly divided New Zealand,” she said.
Collins challenged Jackson to extend his consultation to all New Zealanders - which is the Government's intended second stage. “By making this a matter for Māori alone, he is fostering more division,” she said.
The announcement comes after the unofficial release of the He Puapua report, which made proposals such as a Māori Parliament and Māori wards in local government, before it had been formally considered by Cabinet in June.
Jackson stressed the eventual plan would not rule out the report's proposals, but it could ultimately look nothing like He Puapua.
“He Puapua is not the plan,” he said. “[It] is a collection of ideas, suggestions, aspirations and hopes for Māori. It was provocative, and it should have been provocative.
“It certainly got a lot of people talking,” he said. “And talking at us.”
Jackson said the Government would not be advancing He Puapua, but rather developing the ideas borne from the consultation process. “Before we put in place a plan, we must all have a say in what the plan looks like,” he said.
ACT leader David Seymour said the so-called national conversation was being had with “select Māori elites’’.
“If it’s truly a constitutional conversation for the whole country, why didn’t they have a constitutional conversation for the whole country?’’ he asked.
Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson said this was just the beginning of the conversation and “it’s got a long way to run’’.
Asked whether the Prime Minister should have been leading the conversation by joining Jackson at Thursday's announcement, Robertson said the Māori Development Minister was taking the lead on it and was entirely the right person to do so.
Jackson would work with Pou Tikanga representatives of the National Iwi Chairs Forum and a small group of independent legal experts.
He said the goal was for the country to have a conversation. “This is about giving New Zealanders - Māori first because it’s the indigenous charter - the opportunity to have the korero about whether its a separate Parliament thing or whether it’s about Māori language or Māori health.”
