Parliament reopened on Tuesday with the Prime Minister’s statement on the Government’s policy intent. No new policies or initiatives were announced. However a number of proposed policy items mentioned for 2013 will be of particular interest to, or will impact, Māori. These items are summarised in the table below.
Author: Paanui
Last week the Ministry of Social Development released their Benefit Factsheets for the fourth quarter 2012 (1 October to 31 December). We have collated key Māori data in the table below, and compared it with Statistics New Zealand population estimates. The Ministry’s data shows 339,000
On Tuesday the Prime Minister announced a reshuffling of his party’s Cabinet. There are now three Māori in the Cabinet (of twenty). Simon Bridges was promoted to Minister inside Cabinet. Mr Bridges will now be Minister of Energy and Resources, Minister of Labour, and Associate Minister for Climate Change Issues.
This week leaders from most major political parties attended the Ratana celebrations. The Prime Minister used the opportunity to emphasis the work of his party in hastening Treaty settlements, and to emphasis their goal of improving education opportunities for Māori, via the charter schools policy proposal. [We intend to provide
On Wednesday Māori Party co-leader, Dr Sharples, confirmed that his colleague, Te Ururoa Flavell, intended to challenge for the party’s co-leadership. Dr Sharples has indicated that while the Māori Party leadership is an open discussion, he has a strong preference to remain as the Minister of Māori Affairs. The Māori
Last Sunday members of Rangitāne ki Manawatū met with their local member of parliament, Tariana Turia, to discuss their concerns relating to the settlement mandate of Tanenuiarangi Manawatū Incorporated (TMI). Ko te Pou Marangatahi believe they should lead settlement processes for the iwi. In November the group met with the
Last month the Ministry of Education released its annual report (2012 edition) on the Student Loan scheme. The report shows Māori are over-represented as tertiary students taking up a student loan, being 22% of all borrowers for the period of analysis, 1997 to 2011. There can be differing perspectives on
General matters Appointments and Honours • Robin Hapi has been appointed to the board of Callaghan Innovation – the new Government ‘Advanced Technology Institute’ (ATI). • Last week we advised 2013 New Year’s Honours’ list recipients for ‘Service to Māori’. The Honours’ list also contained some other Māori for services in differing
• In December the Sale and Supply of Alcohol Bill, the Local Government (Alcohol Reform) Amendment Bill, and the Summary Offences (Alcohol Reform) Amendment Bill were read a third time, and passed into law on receiving Royal assent.
Ngāti Pūkenga initialed a Deed of Settlement Ngāti Pūkenga initialed a Deed of Settlement with the Crown on 23 November. The settlement includes a financial and commercial redress of $5 million. Ngāti Rangiwewehi and Tapuika Ngāti Rangiwewehi and Tapuika signed a Deed of Settlement with the Crown on 16
• This week oil Company TAG Oil announced that their partner, Apache New Zealand, are pulling out of the first phase of a joint oil exploration area located on the North Island’s East Coast (TAG will continue alone). This announcement follows Brazilian Oil Company Petrobras decision to exit its oil exploration
In December the New Zealand Police launched Turning of the Tide – a Whānau Ora Crime and Crash Prevention Strategy. This is a short goal setting document. By 2018, the strategy aims to reduce the Māori first-time offending by 10%, Māori repeat offending by 20%, and reduce the Māori proportion
In December the Ministry of Health released the second report from the Te Ohonga Ake series entitled, Health Status of Māori Children and Young People. The report showed reductions in hospital admissions for meningococcal disease, infant mortality and some types of injuries amongst Māori children and young people. However, hospital
In August we advised you that the Children’s Commissioner, Dr Russell Willis, had established an advisory group to assist him consider matters relating to child poverty. (The Commissioner has the statutory role of promoting the rights, health, welfare, and well-being of children.) At that time the group released a consultation
The Local Government Efficiency Taskforce reported back its findings at the end of December. This independent advisory panel was established last June to assist the Government in its considerations of Local Government reforms. The panel’s report contains a short section on consulting with Māori (pages 37-38). Fundamentally this panel recommends