Te Pāti Māori calls for a Māori Parliament, as Budget cuts Māori funding
Friday, 31 May 2024
A protest, a Budget, and a call for radical change. Glenn McConnell reports on the almighty clash in Māori politics, that came head-to-head on Budget Day.
As thousands of Māori rights protesters gathered outside the Beehive, a Budget was handed out inside that cut about $250 million from targeted Māori funding.
Te Pāti Māori co-leaders Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer jumped on those funding cuts, to double down on their allegations this was an anti-Māori Government. They then used the hype of Budget Day to call for a radical shift in the politics of Aotearoa New Zealand, demanding the formation of a Māori Parliament.
The idea of a Māori Parliament is not new. It is discussed in He Whakaputanga, the constitutional document which precedes Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiriri Waititi said he would take their proposal to the next Hui Taumata, a gathering of iwi and Māori leaders which includes groups such as the Kīngitanga.
Ngāti Kahungunu is hosting the next Hui Taumata, starting on Friday, May 31 - the day after Budget Day.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon rejected accusations his first Budget would place Māori in a worse position.
He said most Māori would be welcoming income tax cuts. He denied that the quarter-billion cut to targeted Māori programmes, accompanied by no cost pressure increases for Māori-focused initiatives, had effectively proven the concerns of protesters.
“What we’ve proven is we’re going to have increased spending on health, increased spending on education and increased spending on law and order. Māori will benefit from that,” he told Stuff.
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters said calls to form a Māori Parliament showed Te Pāti Māori was “off its trolley”.
“The language they’re talking is the language of communism. It’s awfully separatist,” he said.
What would a Māori Parliament actually do?
Waititi arrived with the full caucus of Te Pāti Māori, enthused to talk to reporters about their plan to start “a movement” that would lead to the formation of a Māori Parliament.
With the Census reporting that one in five people are Māori, he said he wanted to see 20% of taxpayer money going to for-Māori by-Māori projects. That could be distributed by a Māori Parliament.
“Te iwi Māori shall establish its own Parliament, which will be anchored in our own tikanga and kawa,” he declared.
“We are not saying it is you or us. We are saying it is all of us, but allow us to organise and realise our ambitions.”
He said the Parliament was incapable of fixing inequity afflicting Māori, given it created the “colonial trauma”.
What did the Budget deliver for Māori?
Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ first Budget ended or scaled back a number of targeted Māori programmes.
Those savings included about $100 million gone from Te Puni Kōkiri, the Ministry for Māori Development.
The cuts came on the back of “departmental cost efficiencies” within the ministry itself, totalling about $40m - but the rest was extracted through various smaller projects being axed.
On top of that, funding cuts for a Māori agriculture plan at the Ministry of Primary Industries and Māori housing at the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development added to the quarter-of-a-billion in savings. Also impacting Māori landowners, Te Tumu Paeroa - the Office of the Māori Trustee - saw budget cuts of $5 million.
Through the closure of Te Aka Whai Ora, the Māori Health Authority, the Government had $35 million returned.
Finance Minister Nicola Willis said focusing on the entire population, rather than targeted funding, was the right approach.
“Māori have everything to gain from a stronger economy. Māori have everything to gain from lower inflation, low interest rates, higher incomes and better investment in the front line,” she said.
“Māori turn up at the emergency room as New Zealanders. We are making sure emergency rooms have the funding they need.”
The Government did make good on its promise to increase funding for Te Matatini. It would receive new funding of $48.7 million over three years, starting in 2025.
Willis said there would be funding boosts for Māori health providers, kōhanga and kura kaupapa Māori, within mainstream funding processes.
She said Shane Jones’ regional infrastructure fund, which received $1.3 billion, also had a focus on infrastructure in rural Māori communities.
What next?
After announcing its radical plan for a constitutional shake up at Parliament, Te Pāti Māori headed north to the rohe of Ngāti Kahungunu.
If iwi Māori do not support its plan for a Māori Parliament, that would torpedo the idea and any hope Te Pāti Māori had of starting this conversation.
On Thursday, it was also not immediately clear how a Māori Parliament would work or what it would do.
The Hui Taumata have been a major development since the formation of the coalition Government. Responding to concerns about its agenda for Māori, iwi across the country joined the Kīngitanga at the first Hui Taumata in January.
It first started through a royal proclamation, Te Paki o Matariki, calling for all iwi to meet to discuss the current political situation. That was an extremely rare proclamation from Kīngi Tuheitia Pōtatau Te Wherowhero VII, leading to an an equally uncommon response with iwi from across the country converging for the hui. But those hui have become very common in the months following the coalition Government’s formation.
Additional reporting: Te Aorewa Rolleston