WAATEA NEWS COLUMN: Gutting the Office for Māori Crown Relations just another attack on Māori

Plans to gut the Office for Māori Crown Relations by 40% is an extraordinary move focused on one thing and one thing only, limiting independent Māori advice so this Government doesn’t have to hear it.

The proposal has been decried by the PSA Union and they point out that this will limit the very foresight that Te Arawhiti was supposed to have avoided. It was supposed to be a one stop shop set up to speed up Treaty settlements, but splitting functions between Te Puni Kōkiri and Te Arawhiti will actually undermine the whole reason Te Arawhiti was established.

Te Kaihautū Māori for Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi Public Service Association, Janice Panoho, said, “The government promised to listen to the evidence, but again it’s ignoring the advice of those working at the heart of Māori Crown relations.”

There’s a reason for that, this Government doesn’t want to be forced to heed that independent advice because they have very little intention of implementing any of it. We have already seen Ministers openly colluding with Seafood Industry Interests to limit customary Māori kaimoana rights in the new rejigged Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act, so underfunding and cutting Te Arawhiti’s capacity to challenge poorly crafted Government policy is a political choice not a genuine necessity.

It’s just another example of this Government’s anti-Treaty, anti-Māori agenda to silence critical voices to implement donor wish lists.

We need more capacity at Te Arawhiti, not less.