Former Manukau Urban Māori Authority chairman and opinion writer on kaupapa Māori issues for the Herald Bernie O’Donnell was welcomed back to a new job back in his turangawaewae — and his former boss was on hand to do the handover to the New Plymouth District Council.
MP Willie Jackson says he’s known O’Donnell, the New Plymouth District Council’s inaugural director of iwi partnerships, since they worked alongside each other in Auckland’s Westfield meatworks, and he was one of his early hires when Jackson and John Tamihere established Radio Waatea.
Jackson said O’Donnell overcame an upbringing that led him to give evidence to the Royal Commission on Abuse in Care.
![Bernie O'Donnell and his long-time mate Willie Jackson.](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/v2/MU624KL2LVB4HG3MKHZS3VCUIM.jpg?auth=592d2e38de232c63f8d5907611c1636fc0ea803606ffa0fcea36be79d2aaa0af&width=16&height=12&quality=70&smart=true)
“He came from the toughest of upbringings, just terrible, but he’s an example to others you can rise above that type of upbringing and become such a huge contributor and leader in his own right to te ao Māori,” Jackson said.