Maori portfolios not prime for making change
AS Labour unveiled its ministerial appointments earlier this week, the headlines were full of ‘‘firsts’’ and ‘‘record number of’’, and particularly for Maori.
And quite rightly so.
Nanaia Mahuta became the first female Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the second of Maori heritage, after Winston Peters. She is though, the first to bear a moko kauae.
It is akin to a First Nations woman being appointed as the United States Secretary of State.
It is hugely deserved recognition for one of the party’s mostexperienced MPs and most knowledgeable around tikanga Maori.
The symbolism of the appointment in our current global climate also cannot be denied and even more so when factoring in Mahuta’s ties to the Kingitanga movement, one which challenged the very Crown she now represents overseas.
‘‘It’s a signal of just how far we’ve come as a country,’’ political commentator Morgan Godfery said, also noting the ‘‘irony’’ of Peeni Henare, who also has links to the Kingitanga, becoming Minister of Defence.
Labour also appointed an equal record number of Maori ministers inside Cabinet: five — the same as the last Labourled Government, which included three from New Zealand First.
Along with Ms Mahuta and Mr Henare, party deputy leader Kelvin Davis got the portfolios of Minister for Children, Corrections and Te Arawhiti/ Maori Crown Relations; Willie Jackson Minister for Maori Development; and Kiri Allan Minister of Conservation.
Maori Ministers outside Cabinet include Minister of Customs Meka Whaitiri and Green Party coleader, and Minister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence, Marama Davidson.
Rino Tirikatene is the parliamentary undersecretary to the Minister for Oceans and Fisheries, and Adrian Rurawhe deputy speaker.
There will be a lot expected from this historicallyhigh representation for Maori, but numbers aside, political commentator and academic Dr Rawiri Taonui is cautious about what they will be able to achieve.
‘‘The appointments are good recognition of the contributions they made during the election. They have earned it, and it is overdue.
‘‘There is going to be a lot of pressure from Maoridom, and from their colleagues and the Maori Party to deliver, but the weakness is they have not been given any of the major portfolios where they can really drive the change needed.
‘‘While there is equality in numbers, there is not necessarily equality in positions.’’
Mr Davis turned down the deputy prime minister role, and Mr Henare missed out on his desired role of health minister to Andrew Little (he is one of four associate health ministers).
Aside from Ms Mahuta, Maori missed out on the major mainstream portfolios of health, finance and education — all also key areas particularly as the country recovers from the impacts of Covid19.
Despite being outside of those key roles, Dr Taonui said it was vital the Maori caucus worked closely with their colleagues to ensure the recovery not only did not repeat the inequities that existed across the board, but used it as a tool to fix it.
There will be disappointment Mr Davis turned down the deputy prime minister position, but Dr Taonui said it likely reflected Mr Davis’ own view of himself as a ‘‘worker not a talker’’.
He commended his appointment as Minister for Children, with responsibility for the embattled Oranga Tamariki that has been a major thorn in the Government’s side.
Maori have long been calling for greater autonomy in this space, for new partnership models, and surely with Mr Davis’ role with Te Arawhiti, designed to be the ‘‘bridge’’ between Pakeha and Maori, he has the tools to lead the major reform sorely needed.
In his other roles with Corrections and in
Education he’d be able to continue his work to reduce the prison populations, which is vastly disproportionately Maori, and address systemic racism and inequality.
Dr Taonui said Ms Mahuta’s was a ‘‘brilliant’’ appointment.
‘‘I can really see her shining on the international stage, and also with the cultural capital of Kingitanga behind her, it is we have something never had.’’
He also commended the promotions of Ms Allan and Mr Henare into Cabinet.
‘‘They are ones to watch for the future.’’
Ms Allan also has the benefit of representing the East Coast electorate, where the Raukumara Forest Park has just received a $34 million funding boost, championed and signed off by her predecessor, Eugenie Sage, earning major kudos in the rohe in doing so.
The Raukumara Pae Maunga Restoration Project is a partnership with iwi Te Whanau a Apanui and Ngati Porou and the Department of
Conservation, and having Ms Allan in the role could be a perfect fit for continuing to foster good relations between iwi and Doc across the board.
With various partnership models evolving, calls for a Maori Health Authority, and now Ngai Tahu taking legal action against the Crown over rights to freshwater and calling for more engagement — the time could be ripe to pull the strands together into a constitutional framework with Te Tiriti o Waitangi at its core that recognised tino rangatiratanga, or Maori sovereignty.
The groundwork has been done back in 2016, when Prof Margaret Mutu and Dr Moana Jackson produced the Matike Mai report, based on hundreds of hui across the motu, which outlined a vision for constitutional transformation in Aotearoa.
Dr Taonui said while he’d like to see politicians ‘‘be more brave’’ and take this topic on, he doubted Labour would ‘‘have the guts’’ to do it this term – or even the next.
‘‘There is still residue from the Helen Clark era,’’ he said.
He’s referring to how her government pulled out of the Closing the Gaps reforms, designed to address systemic inequality plaguing the country, and the Seabed and Foreshore debacle in 2004.
‘‘There was this paranoia then of a Pakeha backlash, and it is still lingering around when it comes to addressing these big issues.’’
Easy wins though would be with Ihumatao, which now the block of NZ First was out of the way, would likely be addressed by the end of the year, or potentially saved to be announced at Ratana or Waitangi Day.
This term could also see
Maori seats entrenched, after Rino Tirikatene’s Bill last term was opposed by NZ First.
There will also likely be a continuing transformation when it comes to settling historical grievances of breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi.
Mr Little, who is again Minister of Treaty Negotiations, impressed at Waitangi Day this year when he spoke — in te reo — of the need for a different approach, one that was focused more on hapu and future relations.
But there would always be difficulties in a majority Pakeha party, Dr Taonui said.
‘‘You can bet the Maori MPs would have wanted more influential positions, but would have accepted what they’ve got as steps in the right direction.
‘‘At the end of the day, they have got to appease the majority.’’ — The New Zealand Herald
❛ While there is equality in numbers, there is not necessarily equality in positions