Winston Peters and Jacinda Ardern are at odds over the highly controversial He Puapua report. Political editor Jo Moir explains why Peters is so set on proving her wrong.
ANALYSIS: It was Labour’s then-Māori development minister Nanaia Mahuta who chose not to progress the recommendations from He Puapua to a Cabinet committee.
That decision at the end of 2019 meant her Labour and New Zealand First ministerial colleagues didn’t have access to the report, or even knowledge of it, in the 10 months leading up to the October 2020 election.
It wasn’t until it leaked out via ACT leader David Seymour earlier this year that Mahuta’s colleagues and New Zealand First got wind of it.
“As the responsible minister my role was to identify how we would commence the conversation with Cabinet – we never even got to that point.’’ – Nanaia Mahuta
The independent report was commissioned by the Labour-New Zealand First coalition in August 2019 to devise a plan and vision for what race relations, in particular partnership, might look like come 2040.
It was in response to National and the Māori Party committing the country’s support to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2014.
Mahuta told Newsroom there was “nothing deceitful’’ about the way she dealt with the report, which canvasses a wide range of recommendations from implementing a separate Māori upper house or Parliament to a Māori court system and exemptions for Māori landowners.
“The report was commissioned by a panel of members and the report had not yet been brought to Cabinet’s attention,’’ Mahuta said.
“As the responsible minister my role was to identify how we would commence the conversation with Cabinet – we never even got to that point.’’
She says that's because Covid-19 arrived so she parked it to one side.
Peters, however, begs to differ and says the report was kept quiet so New Zealand First couldn’t highlight Labour’s Māori agenda.
The report eventually made its way into the public arena when Willie Jackson took over as Māori Development Minister after the election.
He approved his Ministry sharing it in February this year.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has weighed in and rejected Peters’ claims that the report was deliberately withheld from him and his colleagues.
But Peters told New Zealand First supporters at Sunday’s AGM the report was clearly heading down a path of separatism and Māori nationalism – something his party is strongly opposed to.
For that reason, Peters says it’s clear the report was kept from him because his party would have put a stop to it being progressed.
In addition, it would have given Peters plenty of ammunition in the lead-up to the election, and for precisely that reason Jackson says it’s a good thing he never got to read it.
“All this nonsense about separatism that we’ve heard from Winston, it’s just nonsense. New Zealanders don’t have to worry.'' – Willie Jackson
"In retrospect it was probably good he didn't see it. For goodness’ sake, look at how he's acting now. And let's not be cute here ... if they had got it they would have utilised it and said 'There we go, that's why you have to vote for NZ First’,’’ Jackson said.
Later next week Jackson will be making an announcement about how a national conversation will be advanced to address the United Nations declaration.
The event will take place at an Auckland marae - the independent panel had recommended the Government launch the conversation at Waitangi commemorations in the Far North.
Jackson said there’s been a lot of “fearmongering and scare tactics out there but New Zealanders are mature and at a different stage’’.
“All this nonsense about separatism that we’ve heard from Winston, it’s just nonsense. New Zealanders don’t have to worry.
“For instance, I’m not a person who talks about a separate Parliament, although those sorts of recommendations need to be considered by Māori and go through a process," he said.
Senior ministers have told Newsroom a national conversation about partnership between Māori, Pākehā and the Crown will be difficult, but in 2021 is long overdue.
Both Collins and Seymour – and now Peters – are questioning how much of the conversation has already taken place at the Labour Cabinet table and is in effect being rolled out ahead of any public consultation.
The leaders have pointed to the advancement of local government Māori wards and a Māori Health Authority as examples.
These are all significant changes to the country’s governance structure and in the case of Seymour, he says it’s giving “a different level of power by way of birth’’.
It’s a territory more traditionally held by New Zealand First – in part, because it’s more easily vocalised by Peters and his colleague, Shane Jones, who are both Māori and therefore less likely to be accused of racism.
Seymour also has Māori ancestry, but hasn’t been in the political game as long as Peters.
New Zealand First are looking for a way back into political relevancy after a disastrous election result last year.
National hasn’t managed to make hay with He Puapua so far and has pulled away from talking about it more recently.
Collins’ office told Newsroom she wouldn’t be commenting on it further until after an announcement had been made.
Jackson says Peters is looking to fill the gap National has failed to fill, “and Winston thinks he can do it because he’s Māori’’.
He said there’s no guarantee New Zealand First would have been back in Parliament if it'd been able to campaign on He Puapua, but “they were trying to use anything to get their vote up, and that would have been good for them’’.
Mahuta told Newsroom she believes “to the highest degree possible we did act in good faith’’.
Ardern has expressed similar, but her former deputy prime minister isn’t convinced.
