Crown-Māori Relations Minister Tama Potaka. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
The government is proposing to scale back the responsibilities for Te Arawhiti - the Office for Māori-Crown Relations - and shift them to the Ministry for Maori Development, Te Puni Kōkiri.
Crown-Māori Relations Minister Tama Potaka says it is "clarifying the respective functions of Te Arawhiti and Te Puni Kōkiri".
Potaka says Te Arawhiti will remain a departmental agency and "continue its core role of progressing long standing Treaty of Waitangi settlements and Takutai Moana applications".
Te Puni Kōkiri will pick up other responsibilities like monitoring and reporting on the Crown's implementation of Treaty Settlements, and leading post-settlement relationships.
"Te Puni Kōkiri will advise on policy to support the acceleration of Māori economic development, continue to support the revitalisation of Māori language and culture, and support Māori social development including through a social investment lens."
Potaka said Te Puni Kōkiri would "provide quality policy advice using the Treaty-based public policy framework Te Tautuhi ō Rongo, to ensure that the distinct rights and interests of Iwi (as collectives) and Māori (as citizens) are recognised and provided for".
It would also better monitor other agencies to ensure they were delivering adequate services to and for Māori, he said.
The minister said in the past six months he had engaged extensively with iwi leaders and their feedback confirmed "clarifying the respective roles of Te Puni Kōkiri and Te Arawhiti will be welcomed".
"I'll be meeting with iwi and Māori leaders shortly to provide more detail on our government's approach and seek their feedback."
It was apparent iwi leaders wanted "absolute clarity" on which agency was responsible for what, he told Checkpoint.
However, he was unwilling to name even one who supported the government's plans.
Govt proposal to shake up Te Arawhiti under fire
More engagement with iwi would need to occur before final decisions were made towards the end of the year.
Asked if it was closure of Te Arawhiti by stealth, he said a lot of allegations were circulating, however, he was more focused on ensuring disparities experienced by Māori in fields such as health, education and housing were rectified.
Regarding a possible loss of jobs, he said that would be up to the chief executives and the public service commissioner to work through.
Both ministries would continue to carry out their respective roles as outlined by the government.
Some "high-level decisions" on jobs were being worked through, he said.
"But we want a far more sophisticated and evidence data-driven approach to ensuring that these inequalities of opportunity [affecting Māori] ... are dealt to."
He went on to say: "But the responsibilities that go with the jobs that currently exist are retained even though they may be in different entities".
Te Arawhiti, the Office for Māori Crown Relations, was created in 2018, bringing together the Office of Treaty Settlements (including the Takutai Moana team), Post Settlement Commitments Unit (Te Kāhui Whakamana), and Te Kāhui Hīkina (Crown Māori Relations Unit).
Te Pāti Māori points to repeal of Section 7AA
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer said putting more responsibilities into Te Puni Kōkiri would not make the government's commitments to Māori any more authentic.
The government had ignored Te Puni Kōkiri's recommendation not to repeal Section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act, she said.
"I guess what we're seeing is an excuse by this government to rationalise Māori kaupapa and commitments into one agency. But the reality is they weren't listening to that agency in the first place anyway."
Ngarewa-Packer said Te Arawhiti had a responsibility for post-settlement relationships, and that when she was chief executive of Ngāti Ruanui, it was Te Arawhiti that was dealing with the iwi and their Covid-19 responses.
"It wasn't a policy-driven thing from Te Puni Kōkiri, that was a relationship. And if we see the rationalisation of these types of agencies that were about forging through a contemporary relationship with iwi, then I guess this government has given us a really loud message that it doesn't see itself having a contemporary relationship with iwi post-settlement."
Greens, Labour also critical
The changes to Te Arawhiti were "another step backwards in relations between tangata whenua and tangata Tiriti", Green Party spokesperson for Māori Crown Relations Steve Abel said.
He said Māori institutions should be bolstered rather than have their roles confused.
The changes would undermine the mana of Te Arawhiti.
Peeni Henare Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
The government had said it wanted to focus on delivering for Māori, "while systematically dismantling the very institutions established to support them. You can't have it both ways", Abel said.
Labour's spokesperson Peeni Henare said the refocus at Te Arawhiti was a meaningless distraction from the real issues and showed why Potaka could not be trusted
"I think it's a bit odd that the Minister of Māori Crown relations has to reclarify what its purpose is which is already very clear - it is to support the Crown to lift its performance to work with Māori to achieve better outcomes - which has been undermined almost on a weekly basis by this government.
"Rather than supporting and inspiring Māori, the government are doing the exact opposite."
Despite the rhetoric by the prime minister that he wanted the government to "honour the treaty" they continued to propose policies that excluded Māori from consultation, undermined and degraded the Waitangi Tribunal and cut funding for Māori initiatives, Henare said.