PM defends Govt over report delay
WELLINGTON: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says the Government has nothing to hide over a report commissioned on how to better uphold indigenous rights.
Maori Development Minister Willie Jackson has prepared a draft paper setting out the next steps the Government could take in response to the He Puapua report, which he says will go to Cabinet soon.
However, Act New Zealand and National claim the Government has been trying to keep the report and any proposals under the radar.
He Puapua was first given to the Government in 2019, but it was the National Party which publicly released it in full at the weekend.
The report suggested a separate Maori parliament or upper house, separate court and justice systems and Maori ownership of foreshore and seabed, as well as recommendations on cultural rights and equity.
Ms Ardern said there was a good reason the report had not been released earlier.
‘‘That did not come back to Cabinet. It had not been approved by Cabinet and it was not government policy.
‘‘That was the reason it had not been released, because it did not have our final sign off and it was not our final declaration plan,’’ she said.
National leader
Judith Collins said the Government was already implementing plans from the report.
‘‘We’ve seen the Cabinet papers that have actually been discussed, particularly around the Maori health authority and we saw what happened with the local government situation, neither of which . . . were actually campaigned on or mentioned in the election campaign,’’ she said.
Last week, Ms Collins accused the Government of separatism in its policies.
Health Minister Andrew Little, who recently announced the government’s plan for a Maori health authority, said he had not even read the He Puapua report.
He said Ms Collins’ comments around separatism were ‘‘just embarrassing in this day and age, that a political leader of a major political party would talk in that way’’.
Act revealed yesterday afternoon Mr Jackson received three papers last month about the report, including a draft Cabinet paper for feedback.
Mr Jackson did not have a date for when the report would go to the Cabinet but said it would happen soon.
He said there was a lot in the report about improving equity that was not ‘‘at all extreme’’.
Act leader David Seymour said the report should never have had to go through the ombudsman to be released.
‘‘I’m hearing more and more anxiety and division and I think the Government’s approach is actually fuelling it,’’ he said.
‘‘They should just come out and say ‘this is the report we are looking to go towards what the UN has said and match its declaration.’
‘‘If that’s the view, then they should come out and say it.
‘‘I think there would be a much more honest way to have the conversation.’’
Ms Ardern said in the House the report was intended to start that conversation.
‘‘I have to say the groundwork for us being able to have a decent conversation about these issues has not been well established by the debate I have seen from members of this house,’’ she said.