Listen Now: 
Maori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples is denying the New Zealand Maori Council is under threat because of potential changes to its empowering Act.
Participants at consultation hui on the Maori Community Development Act have expressed suspicion at the motives for the exercise and spoke in support of the council and the Maori wardens.
Dr Sharples says conditions have changed since the act was written in 1962, and he wants to make it more appropriate for contemporary needs. But he says Maori councils and wardens will continue in some form.
"They asked that one of the things they should have in the discussions was should there be, is there a role for the Maori Council or not. I took that out. That is not one of the things we are discussing at all. We are looking at what is the role of the Maori Council at this time," Dr Sharples
says.
The consultation continues this week with hui in Whanganui, New Plymouth, Hamilton, Rotorua, Christchurch and Nelson.
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