The next steps in the Government’s plan for meeting obligations under the United Nations’ Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples are expected to be discussed at Cabinet on Monday
Māori Development Minister Willie Jackson expects to take a paper to his Cabinet colleagues on Monday asking for sign-off to start drafting a declaration plan.
The political debate over co-governance and how the Government plans to meet responsibilities under the United Nations’ declaration has been ramping up in Parliament once again in recent weeks.
It first started in May last year with the Opposition’s surprise release of the controversial He Puapua report, which descended into accusations of separatism and that Labour was using its majority to push through a two-tiered governance system.
ACT has called for a referendum on the issue, which hasn’t at this stage been supported by National’s Chris Luxon.
But both opposition parties are calling for the Government to be clear about what co-governance means and consult more widely with New Zealanders.
Seymour is accusing the Government of “selectively consulting people’’.
“I’d much rather be talking about how to get houses built, pay down debt, and how to give people the opportunity to make their lives and careers better, but because this Government insists on co-governance on everything, we have to talk about that instead,’’ he told Newsroom.
The timeline being rolled out by Jackson meant Māori and iwi were consulted with first on how self-determination and partnership between Māori and the Crown could be better achieved.
"You’re going to get some extreme views, I won’t go into the detail, but I’m sure we’ll get extreme views when we go to the broader country too.'' – Willie Jackson, Māori Development Minister
It led to 70 hui across the country, and the feedback and ideas collected as part of that targeted engagement are the basis of what the minister will take to Cabinet.
On Monday the Prime Minister told Newsroom she felt co-governance was becoming “an increasingly politicised term’’.
Cabinet had been due to consider the paper that day but it had been delayed “because of Minister Jackson’s loss in his family’’, Jacinda Ardern said.
Jackson was on leave from Parliament for tangihanga last week after his mother, Dame Temuranga June Jackson, and his uncle, Doctor Moana Jackson, both died.
The Minister’s hopeful his colleagues will approve the drafting of a plan, which he expects to happen over the next two months before it is presented to the wider public.
Asked what specific feedback was received during the targeted Māori engagement, Jackson was reluctant to give details given it was yet to go to Cabinet.
“The point I’d make is we went to 70 hui, so every type of suggestion is coming through,’’ he told Newsroom.
“You’re going to get some extreme views, I won’t go into the detail, but I’m sure we’ll get extreme views when we go to the broader country too.’’
“These are just people’s views and part of the process is allowing people to have their say, both Māori and Pakeha,’’ Jackson said.
Ardern has already ruled out a Māori Parliament or upper house after it was proposed in He Puapua, an independent report commissioned by the Government last term.
