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A South Taranaki iwi is backing a Black Power member at the centre of a row about gang members working behind bars.
In response to a complaint from the Sensible Sentencing Trust, Corrections Minister Judith Collins has called for an inquiry into how Ngapari Nui was allowed to work at Whanganui Prison teaching wellness and well being to inmates.
Debbie Ngarewa Packer the Kaiarataki for Ngati Ruanui says the iwi appointed Mr Nui as a Kaiwhakamana, and standing him down without any contact with the iwi is a serious breach of the treaty relationship.
"If you're going to takahi the people we put in, we may as well lay down now whanau and let them take over the whole of Whanau Ora and every other kaupapa that we as grassroots have solutions for. It's an absolutely racist discriminatory practice, the whole way the minister has takahi-ed Ngati Ruanui without one phone call yet when there has been major kaupapa down in Whanganui with the gangs, when there has been major police issues, the first person the crown rings is Ngapari," she says.
Debbie Ngarewa-Packer says Judith Collins has given the Sensible Sentencing trust a veto over what happens in her department.
Copyright © 2016, UMA Broadcasting Ltd: www.waateanews.com
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