Tama Potaka defends Te Arawhiti restructure, blames 'duplication'

Wednesday, 14 August 2024

Māori-Crown Relations Minister Tama Potaka is planning a major upheaval of the Māori public service.

Māori-Crown Relations Minister Tama Potaka is defending his plan to scale back the role of Te Arawhiti, which is the Government’s lead coordinator with iwi and Māori organisations.

Potaka has claimed Te Arawhiti, which is the office of Crown-Māori relations, and the ministry of Māori development, Te Puni Kōkiri, have been wasting resources through “duplication” and said lines had blurred around which department should lead work on Te Tiriti and iwi partnerships.

He confirmed plans to scale back the role of Te Arawhiti on Tuesday. Instead of having an all of Government purview, he said Te Arawhiti would focus only on settling historical Treaty claims and administering the Marine and Coastal Areas Act.

Insiders told Stuff he was “effectively closing” Te Arawhiti, which taken on the role of forming Government “partnerships” under former minister Kelvin Davis. But in an interview with Stuff, Potaka said that while the responsibilities may shift away from Te Arawhiti, its jobs would still be done.

Why it matters

When the Labour-NZ First coalition established Te Arawhiti in 2018, Davis argued the Government needed public servants dedicated to fostering relationships with iwi. It formed out of the Office of Treaty Settlements.

Given most iwi had settled historical grievances, Davis said there should be a department ready to bring together the resources and expertise of both Government and iwi. Since then, Te Arawhiti has been the conduit between Government and the powerful Iwi Leaders Forum, and has been key in organising events such as the Waitangi commemorations.

Te Arawhiti organises the Government’s meetings and events at Waitangi each year.

Potaka’s proposal would see it return to being, effectively, the Office of Treaty Settlements.

The minister’s view

In an interview with Stuff, Potaka said Te Arawhiti was doing the work Te Puni Kōkiri should already be doing.

He denied this change was about cost savings, although he would not commit to re-investing any savings back into Māori development.

Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka says Te Puni Kōkiri is better suited to taking over liaison roles with iwi.

“It’s not really driven out of a cost cutting exercise. But we can say, hand on heart, that there is a bit of duplication and a bit of confusion out there,” he said.

Given Te Puni Kōkiri already had offices around Aotearoa, he said it was far better placed to be the Government’s key liaison with iwi.

“They are the eyes and ears of Te Puni Kōkiri in the regions and they are well placed to run those Crown-Māori, Māori-Crown initiatives,” he said.

With Te Arawhiti returning to serving only as the Office of Treaty Settlements, Potaka said it would be much clearer about which department should lead which work. Te Arawhiti would be focused on “the past” and settling grievances, and Te Puni Kōkiri would focus on the future, he said.

Steve Abel is the Green Party spokesperson for Māori-Crown Relations.

A key event for Te Arawhiti had been bringing together ministers, foreign diplomats, iwi leaders and others at the Waitangi commemorations each year. Davis said it had succeeded in toning down tensions on our national day, to create a productive event.

Potaka said he didn’t think those events, and the Government’s relationship with Māori, would suffer without the organisational help of Te Arawhiti.

“We're actually ramping up our engagements and doing it in a material way,” he said.

Room for disagreement

Janice Panoho, Te Kaihautū Māori for the Public Service Association, said the Government clearly wanted to do the “bare minimum” for Māori-Crown relations.

“The intention of the change has been poorly communicated to staff which is really disappointing given how committed they are to improving outcomes to Māori,” she said.

Green Party Māori-Crown Relations spokesperson Steve Abel called it “another blow” for Māori.

“The decision to undermine the mana of Te Arawhiti is yet another example of the Government neglecting the relationship between Crown and Māori by denying tangata whenua rights to self-determination,” he said.

By the numbers

Te Arawhiti employed about 200 people.

Analysis by RNZ estimated 20% to 30% of those roles could be deemed “duplication”.

That meant up to 60 net roles could be gone as a result of Potaka’s proposal.

What next?

Te Arawhiti staff were asked to submit feedback on the proposal on Tuesday.

The department had not outlined how this would impact staff roles. Potaka said that was an “operational” decision.