Government slashes Te Arawhiti, scaling back Māori-Crown relations department
Tuesday, 13 August 2024
The Government is scaling back the role of Te Arawhiti, the office of Crown-Māori relations.
Staff at the department met on Tuesday and on Friday.
Te Arawhiti will focus on Treaty settlements, rather than taking an all of government view on Māori-Crown relations.
The Government is significantly scaling back Te Arawhiti, the office of Māori-Crown Relations.
Sources with knowledge of the proposal told Stuff the Government was “effectively closing” the department, which is the Government’s lead coordinator for iwi and Māori organisations. Māori-Crown Relations Minister Tama Potaka rejected that characterisation, when Stuff put that to his office on Tuesday.
He went on to issue a statement confirming a major restructure of Te Arawhiti, which would strip it back to deal only with negotiating Treaty settlements and administering the Marine and Coastal Area Act.
Potaka said its advisory roles, as the lead agency for managing the Government’s relationship with Māori, could be taken up by another ministry.
He branded the restructure as modernisation, and said it would streamline work focused on Māori culture, social and economic development.
Te Arawhiti evolved from the Office of Treaty Settlements. It started in 2018, as an idea from Kelvin Davis, under the Labour-NZ First coalition Government.
At the time, Davis said Te Arawhiti would move the Crown-Māori relationship beyond grievance and settlements, into a new focus on partnership and development.
Some staff were told of the plan on Friday, ahead of Cabinet discussing Potaka’s proposal on Monday. An all-staff meeting was held on Tuesday morning to confirm the restructure.
The Government has a target of winding up historical Treaty claims by 2030. It was also set to amend the Marine and Coastal Areas Act, making it harder for Māori to claim customary title to the foreshore and seabed.
When it formed, Te Arawhiti was tasked with ensuring the Government was meeting obligations it has signed up to during Treaty settlements. Those settlements are laws.
Its team, of between 150 and 250 staff, were tasked with working across ministries and with multiple ministers to collaborate with iwi. Its teams manage the relationship between the Government and groups such as the Iwi Leaders Forum and the Waitangi National Trust.
That is a different function than Te Puni Kōkiri, the Māori development ministry, which contracts providers to work in the community.
Potaka said this change would clarify the roles of these two departments.
He said Te Puni Kōkiri would be able to provide advice about Te Tiriti o Waitangi for all Government departments.
“It will also better monitor other agencies to ensure they are delivering adequate services to and for Māori,” he said.
Te Puni Kōkiri works in a range of social and cultural service areas, responsible for funding and supporting te reo Māori. It also manages Whānau Ora, which provides funding for Māori and Pasifika-led social services, and has a housing team to assist with the development of Māori housing and land.