Te Pāti Māori co-leaders Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi are backing their MP. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Te Pāti Māori co-leaders Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi are backing their MP. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Te Pāti Māori’s co-leaders are endorsing an allegation made by one of its MPs that the Government is on a “mission to exterminate Māori”.
Tai Tokerau MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi made the claim during her general debate speech in the House last week as she referenced the Government’s intention to reform aspects of the Oranga Tamariki Act.
“No matter my words today, this Government will not waver in its mission to exterminate Māori,” she said.
“I might be tempted to change tone and say: Pai ana, get rid of Section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act, and while you’re at it get rid of the entire Act and the rotten institution that is Oranga Tamariki, which should in fact be renamed Matenga Tamariki (killing children) because it and its predecessor has only caused strife and ruin to the most vulnerable of Te Iwi Māori, our babies, our beautiful brown babies.”
Section 7AA required the Oranga Tamariki chief executive to provide a practical commitment to the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi.
It also ensured that Oranga Tamariki considered “the whakapapa (genealogy) of Māori children and . . . the whanaungatanga (familial) responsibilities of their whānau, hapū and iwi”, according to the Act.
The removal of the section has been condemned by the Opposition parties and the Waitangi Tribunal, which recently released an urgent report warning of the harm it would do to vulnerable children.
Removing the section was included in the National and Act coalition agreement.
Children’s Minister and Act MP Karen Chhour, who interacted with the state care system as a child, believed Section 7AA was leading to Māori children being removed from safe homes because their caregivers weren’t of Māori descent.
Te Tai Tokerau MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi made the claim in a speech last week. Photo / Tania Whyte
Today, Māori Party co-leaders Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer said Kapa-Kingi’s speech was “absolutely bang on.
“This is how we feel and we will not be told how to feel,” Waititi said.
“Many of the policy changes that this Government absolutely makes us feel like there [are] huge extermination processes and policies [aimed at] the very existence of tangata whenua in this country, so it was absolutely the right wording.”
He cited how Māori on average die several years younger than non-Māori and yet the Government had scrapped the Māori Health Authority, an agency set up under the previous Labour government to try to improve Māori health outcomes.
Ngarewa-Packer acknowledged how some might not approve of that kind of language but she argued her party’s supporters had similar beliefs and it was their job to speak on their behalf.
“They’re not going to speak like some of the uncles around here want to hear them speak, that’s the kind of party that we represent.”
Ngarewa-Packer had used similar language previously, in which she claimed the Government operated in a manner akin to white supremacy.
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said Kapa-Kingi’s “ignorant and offensive accusations” indicated she didn’t care about the offence it would cause.
“Kapa-Kingi is either dangerously ignorant or she believes what she said is true. The most frightening thing is it’s probably both.
“By the Māori Party’s own proclamations, the number of Māori in New Zealand total anywhere up to 20 per cent of the population. So why do they think their three per cent party vote allows them to speak on behalf of all Māori? It doesn’t.”
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has regularly urged politicians across different parties to cease the use of divisive rhetoric, including when Peters compared co-governance with Nazi Germany’s race-based theories.
He reiterated that sentiment when speaking to journalists on Tuesday.
“That’s really unhelpful rhetoric, we genuinely as a Government are wanting to advance outcomes for Māori.
“We want to partner with Maori on a whole range of issues to get better outcomes and so I just don’t think that language is helpful at all.”
Labour Māori caucus co-chairman Willie Jackson said he wouldn’t have used that word and also described it as “rhetoric” but didn’t condemn it.
Adam Pearse is a political reporter in the NZ Herald Press Gallery team, based at Parliament. He has worked for NZME since 2018, covering sport and health for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei before moving to the NZ Herald in Auckland, covering Covid-19 and crime.
