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The Waitangi Tribunal is today hearing arguments on whether it should give urgency to a claim by the New Zealand Maori Council over the Maori Wardens.
The Government says it won’t make changes to the 1962 Maori Development Act though it will affect the council, but it intends to consult further on whether it should set up Maori wardens as a separate roopu.
The council wants to retain oversight through district Mori councils.
But Gloria Hughes, the former president of the New Zealand Maori Wardens Association, says the wardens have consistently asked for their autonomy, and the 1962 Act isn’t working.
"I think that everything from the past belongs to the past. I think what we've got to look at doing is creating a new pathway forward that actually keeps us unites with in the communities," she says.
Ms Hughes says the priority for Maori wardens is iwi, hapu and the marae.
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