Poto Williams has revealed what she had been told by Māori Crown Relations Minister Kelvin Davis last year when she was first appointed minister in charge of the Department of Conservation (DOC). Photo / Mark Mitchell
Poto Williams has revealed what she had been told by Māori Crown Relations Minister Kelvin Davis last year when she was first appointed minister in charge of the Department of Conservation (DOC). Photo / Mark Mitchell
Māori hate the Department of Conservation, MPs on the Māori affairs select committee were told this morning by former Conservation Minister Poto Williams.
She said that was what she had been told by Māori Crown Relations Minister Kelvin Davis last year when she was first appointed minister in charge of the Department of Conservation (DoC).
“One of the first things that minister Davis said to me was that Māori hate DoC,” she told the committee.
“‘They have a really poor relationship with the department so good luck to you sister,” he had said.
She suggested that the new minister, Willow-Jean Prime, might have more success in changing that than she had.
“I think minister Prime is going to be able to navigate some of the spaces I perhaps wasn’t able to navigate,” she said.
Kelvin Davis says he has given the same feedback to new Conservation Minister Willow-Jean Prime. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Williams held Conservation for only a short time. She and other MPs who have announced their intention to retire at the October election were reshuffled out of their ministerial jobs by Prime Minister Chris Hipkins last month.
Williams was appointed in July last year to replace Kiri Allan, who was made Justice Minister in the wake of Kris Faafoi’s departure.
Williams made her comment today during the annual review of Te Arawhiti, the Office of Māori Crown Relations, with acting chief executive Glenn Webber appearing.
DoC was involved in a lot of Treaty settlements she said and while it wanted to be an honourable Treaty partner, “often the whenua that is returned is not in the state where Māori are able to then utilise it to the extent that they might have expected.”
Speaking to the Herald, Davis said he did not recall the exact conversation with Williams but the sentiment of her comments reflected the views of more than 30 hui he attended in 2018 to consult on the setting up of the Office.
He had been asking Māori what their concerns were in their relationship with the Crown.
“And if DoC wasn’t mentioned as the first problem, they were the second,” Davis said. “People would say they had no trust in DoC, they think they own all our land. That was the context.”
Davis, the MP for Te Tai Tokerau, was speaking from Te Kao, about 40 minutes from Cape Rēinga, and he had Prime, the MP for Northland, with him.
He said he had passed on the same sentiment to Prime.
“One of the things she needs to do is work on the relationship between DoC and Māori. If she can pull that off it would be great. It would be a feather in her cap.”
He said Ngāi Tahu had been particularly critical of DoC and he had advised her that one of the first things should do was go and talk to Lisa Tumahai, the chair of Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu, about it.
In responding to Williams’ comments at the select committee, Webber paid tribute to both her as her time as minister and to DOC chief executive Penny Nelson.
He said DoC was very important in Treaty of Waitangi settlements with iwi because so many rivers, mountains and sacred sites were in Crown ownership as part of the Conservation estate.
