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January 08, 2016
Pressure building for changes to Maori wardens law
Waatea Team
Posted On January 8, 2016
Labour’s Maori spokesperson Kelvin Davis would like to see progress on revising the Maori Community Development Act 1962 to meet current conditions.
The Act, which regulates the activities of Maori councils and Maori wardens, has come under fire for provisions which are seen as racist, such as allowing wardens to take the car keys off Maori or to make bars stop serving "drunk and quarrelsome" Maori.
Mr Davis says the law had been reviewed by the Maori affairs select committee when he was first in parliament, but everything has since gone quiet.
Reforms proposed by former minister Pita Sharples sparked a Waitangi Tribunal claim, with the tribunal reporting at the end of 2014.
A spokesperson for Maori Development Minister Te Ururoa Flavell says Te Puni Kokiri is due to give its advice on the report by March.
Copyright © 2016, UMA Broadcasting Ltd: www.waateanews.com
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