On Tuesday the Labour Party confirmed its list of candidates for the upcoming General Election in September. Of note is that Willie Jackson was placed only 21st on the list. On the previous day he petitioned within the party against that level of ranking, which media reports indicated caused some
Day: May 5, 2017
Suzanne Ellison (Ngāi Tahu) has been reappointed as a board member of Creative New Zealand (also known as the Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa). The Minister for Māori Development, Te Ururoa Flavell, has announced winners of the DreamBig Māori social media competition. The winners are Alice Dimond, Arwen
On Thursday the Māori Purposes Bill (2015) was finally read a third time in Parliament, and will now be passed into law upon receiving Royal Assent. This legislation amends the Māori Purposes Act 1991, which governs the Wi Pere Trust and other Māori Trust Boards. The main purposes of the
This week the Te Ture Whenua Māori Bill progressed through the Committee of the Whole House Parliamentary stage. This process allows for final amendments to be made before a third reading, and is a required step for this Bill given the ongoing changes being made to it. We note, however,
Last weekend Ngāti Tamaoho (in Tamaki / Manukau) signed a Deed of Settlement with the Crown, to settle its historic Treaty of Waitangi claims. Commercial and financial redress is $10.3 million, and there is also a cultural revitalisation fund of $590,000. As with all settlements, the iwi will also receive
On Wednesday the Prime Minister, Bill English, announced that the Government’s Better Public Services (BPS) goals had been revised, and ten new targets have now been set.[1] These targets remain quantifiable and time bound, and give a clear direction to agencies as to what the Government is focused on. For
Last month the Ministry of Health released a draft of a proposed new suicide prevention strategy.[1] This replaces the Government’s previous strategy in this area, which is expiring. It is a wellbeing area of particular importance to Māori, given the Māori suicide rate is 22 per 100,000 people, which is
On Wednesday Statistics New Zealand released the Household Labour Force Survey results for the quarter to the end of March 2017. The survey shows that national unemployment has fallen to 4.9% (it was 5.2% at the end of December.) For Māori the unemployment rate is now 10.4%, down from 11.9%.