A plea for help: President of the Hastings Mongrel Mob's appeal to the Waitangi Tribunal

Friday, 31 July 2020

The Waitangi Tribunal is in the second day of hearings for an inquiry sparked after the attempted uplift of a newborn baby in Hawke’s Bay last year.

When the president of the Hastings Mongrel Mob stood in front of the Waitangi Tribunal, he asked for help.

Rex Timu presented to the Tribunal’s inquiry into Oranga Tamariki, sparked after the attempted uplift of a newborn baby from his mother in Hawke’s Bay last year.

Despite the issue being bought to light, babies are still being taken from Māori mothers by Oranga Tamaraki. Published July 18, 2020.

On Friday afternoon he told the tribunal that during the 1950s and 60s, Māori boys were being removed from their parents and put into state care. Many then experienced physical, mental, and, in some cases, sexual abuse.

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Timu said the boys started to hate authority, but bonded with each other, and started forming groups.

The most notable of these was a group in Hawke’s Bay which became known as the Mongrels. In a few years it would evolve and become New Zealand’s largest gang, the Mongrel Mob.

Timu said that 55 years later society was still dealing with gangs created by state abuse in the mid-20th century.

Dame Iritana Tāwhiwhirangi says raising Māori children in their tribal areas allows them to “fly the universe”.

“The system created them, created their behaviour, created the mob as we know it.”

He came to the tribunal to ask them, the Government, or anyone for help. “I need help, so I can go home and help my people.”

The Tribunal is looking at why there is a disparity between the number of Māori children uplifted from families compared with non-Māori, whether legislative changes made in 2017 had helped, and what changes needed to be made to ensure outcomes were consistent with the Treaty of Waitangi.

Māori language and Kohanga Reo advocate Dame Iritana Tāwhiwhirangi, told the tribunal she was appalled at the way Māori whanau were being treated.

She grew up in her tribal area, where she learnt “what it meant to be Māori, to speak Māori, to think Māori and to act Māori”.

”You grow up in that kind of environment, you can fly the universe. When you don’t, then you are saddled with what we have today, worrying about our children, and what is happening to them.”

Social worker Rhonda Tautari works with young, predominantly Māori mothers aged between 12 and 19 at the Taonga Education Centre Charitable Trust.

She recalled attempting to work with Oranga Tamariki during a young mother’s pregnancy, and the lack of engagement from the organisation.

The baby was then uplifted at birth and placed in the care of a family in another iwi.

She described the situation as being traumatic for the parents and extended whānau.

Over the seven or eight years since then, she said she had adapted to ensure there was better communication between Oranga Tamariki and her mothers.

”I think they have adapted to me, they know what I am about, but they could do a whole lot better.”

She had seen an increase in complicated cases being given to junior Oranga Tamariki social workers, some in their first year out of tertiary education.

Social worker Lisa King, who has around 30 years’ experience in the sector, said there was structural racism and white supremacy embedded in the system.

”Social work is a Eurocentric invention, its centred in another world.”

Embedding indigenous ways of being, thinking and doing was difficult.

She said change for the better in Oranga Tamariki tended to be ad hoc and not systematic.

“It’s not integrated, it’s not operationalised, and it’s not put into practice in systematic ways, it's on whim.”

Katie Murray, chief executive of Far North social welfare organisation Waitomo Papakāinga, said her organisation had prevented 170 Māori children from going into the care of Oranga Tamariki over the past 20 months.

She described Waitomo Papakāinga as being a wall between whānau and Oranga Tamariki, saying they worked with Oranga Tamariki, the police, and other social welfare organisations in the area to ensure families worked with the right organisation.

When asked by the tribunal whether success had come from Oranga Tamariki backing off and trusting the social welfare organisations in the area, Murray’s answer was simple: “Correct.”

She said social work degrees did not prepare people for the work her organisation did, but being part of the whānau and hapū did.

The Waitangi Tribunal hearing is one of five inquiries being held following the attempted uplift in Hawke’s Bay, which sparked protests across the country.

The Tribunal has finished hearing from witnesses, with the Crown scheduled to give evidence on Friday, August 7.