Now, Te Arawhiti the Crown-Māori relations agency is set to close

On Monday, Cabinet is expected to make a decision on the proposal to do away with Te Arawhiti, and absorb the workstreams of the Māori-Crown relations agency back into Justice and Te Puni Kōkiri.
Newsroom understands Minister for Māori-Crown Relations Tama Potaka has taken the proposal to Cabinet committee and this week a final decision will be made, as the Government continues its cost-cutting exercise across the public service.
In response to questions from Newsroom, Potaka provided a brief written statement: “We want to ensure every government organisation is delivering results and value for money, for Māori and non-Māori.”
Other ministers, including Public Service Minister Nicola Willis – who has told the sector to continue to tighten its belt and identify ways to avoid duplication – directed Newsroom to Potaka’s office.
NZ First minister Shane Jones – who was in Cabinet when the agency was established – told Te Karere : “I support Tama’s actions. He brought a paper before Cabinet to see how Te Puni Kōkiri could be bolstered as money from the Government coffers is drying up.”
Speaking to 1 News, Jones said: “There’s quite a few options being looked at to ensure the bureaucracy is match-fit to deliver the Māori outcomes and the Treaty outcomes that we believe reflect what we campaigned on.”
If Cabinet gives the proposal final sign-off, it’s expected the workstreams related to Treaty of Waitangi settlements and foreshore and seabed claims will sit with the Ministry of Justice, while the rest – including promotion of significant Māori events – will be picked up by Te Puni Kōkiri.
Te Arawhiti chief executive Lil Anderson said it would be inappropriate to comment at the moment.
However, she said she had met with staff on Friday morning.
“Just making sure that we acknowledge what’s swirling at the moment, for my staff, that creates a really difficult environment for them, and trying to offer any support that I can.”
Anderson said she had not been able to offer Te Arawhiti’s 200 staff certainty around when final decisions would be made, or a timeline going forward “because I don’t have one”.
Last month, Newsroom reported that Anderson’s contract, which was due to expire in December, had not been renewed.
It is understood that no recruitment process to find a replacement for Anderson was initiated – essentially hitting pause on any future planning for the agency.
Then at the start of July, Te Arawhiti announced a proposed restructure that would see 13 job losses.
Anderson told Newsroom she was still considering what to do beyond December, but intended to stay in the job until then.
Te Arawhiti, established in 2018, was the brainchild of Kelvin Davis, the former Māori-Crown relations minister.
Davis declined to comment on the proposed plan for Te Arawhiti, saying: “I’m just staying totally out of politics. I don’t want to be one of those former politicians that feels they’re still relevant.”
But in his valedictory speech to Parliament, Davis said Te Arawhiti generated value for race relations in Aotearoa, which far exceeded its “paltry” budget. The agency’s annual budget is about $50 million.
“If Te Arawhiti is shut down, the Government would lose hundreds of millions of dollars through litigation that you could have prevented,” Davis said in his January speech.
“But this is a Government who knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing. If the first few weeks of this Government is anything to go by, Treaty lawyers will be rubbing their hands together in glee.”
In June, 1 News reported the Crown had so far spent about $1 million in legal battles challenging the Government’s so-called anti-Māori policies, including the use of te reo in the public sector and the Waitangi Tribunal summons of Children’s Minister Karen Chhour.
“Translated, Te Arawhiti means the bridge, and Te Tiriti o Waitangi is that bridge that connects the Māori world with the non-Māori world here in Aotearoa. There are a number of us who can cross that bridge in either direction, who know the culture, customs, history, and traditions in both of those worlds, who are able to flick in and out of both languages and cultural contexts with relative ease. Unsurprisingly, the vast majority are Māori,” Davis said in his valedictory speech.
“My job as minister for Māori Crown Relations was to strengthen the relationship between Māori and the Crown and to get our Public Service to cross that bridge and better understand why Māori act in the way we act and believe what we believe and what the pillars of our culture are that mean we have the expectations of the Crown that we do. After 184 years, we should not have to constantly justify our world view to the Public Service and ignorant politicians.”
The decision to disband Te Arawhiti comes as the Government moves through a raft of legislation and policies affecting Māori communities, including the repeal of Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act, the repeal of Māori Wards legislation, the wind-back of te reo use across the sector, anti-gang laws, a clarifying of the Marine and Coastal Area Act, and Act’s Treaty Principles Bill.
On Thursday, Potaka told journalists at Parliament that he was “ruthlessly focused on delivering on the needs of Māori, whether or not it’s housing, education, health – I’m involved with emergency housing, as you know – and making sure that we have really clear, clinical, evidence-based material so we can make decisions”.
Potaka said he was also focused on ensuring Treaty settlements were properly implemented.
“I’m very proud to be in a Cabinet where there are more Māori members than any Cabinet in the history of this country,” he said, in response to a question about whether the Government was delivering for Māori.
“So I think it’s really important for us just to contextualise that question and also recognise that Māori, like most people in this country, are not homogenous.”
Labour’s Māori development spokesperson Willie Jackson said Te Arawhiti had done a good job – in a short space of time – at building relationships with iwi, in order to progress Treaty settlements and the successful implementation of those settlements.
Newsroom understands the proposal to disestablish Te Arawhiti was based on concerns about duplication, and efficiently finding ways to promote growth in the Māori economy.
Jackson said he believed there could be some sense to that thinking, and that the functions of the agency could be performed by Justice and the Ministry for Māori development, if the right people were retained.
But the timing and the optics were bad, he said.
“For me, for a lot of our people, we’re not surprised by this. But it’s like they don’t give a damn about how it looks. It just feels like yet another attack on Māori.”
Jackson said Potaka’s response to questions about the future of Te Arawhiti were not good enough, and did not provide clarity or certainty to the agency’s staff.
“It’s a bit sad because he’s obviously someone who’s got a fair amount of talent. I don’t doubt that. And I think Tama is a good man; I think he’s got a good heart, but he’s almost on his own … it’s not easy, and he’s probably a bit lonely. 
“But I think he needs to stand up and say: ‘Enough’, otherwise all he’ll be doing is watching the continual reduction and restriction of our kaupapa.”
The plan comes a week after Willis presented the public service with a letter of expectation, which had a strong focus on fiscal sustainability and performance.
Meanwhile, all levels of the public service were undergoing a significant shift.
This year’s Budget saw more than 4000 jobs cut, in the $4 billion cost-savings exercise, and the changes extended all the way to the top. In the past eight months, more than a dozen heads of public service departments, Crown entities or state-owned enterprises have changed.
In response to questions about advice or options offered to the Government and the consultation process undertaken with Te Arawhiti, a spokesperson for the Public Service Commission said anything related to the Cabinet process was for the minister’s office, adding “it would be inappropriate to discuss employment matters in the media”.