August 31, 2016
Urban pair face head crack backlash
Doing their job too well may have cost two urban Maori advocates a place on Auckland’s Independent Maori Statutory Board.
National Urban Maori Authority chief executive Lance Norman says the organisation is disappointed John Tamihere and Willie Jackson were not appointed, despite endorsements from the city’s urban marae and other matawaka groups.
Former MP Tau Henare and Papakura Marae chief executive Tony Kake got the nod from the selection panel of mana whenua representatives.
Mr Norman says Mr Jackson and Mr Tamhihere have done an exceptional job for Maori living in the cities.
"Now they did have to crack a few heads to get where they are because some of the clowns we work with in central and local government want to keep us in a marginalised state, so of course you have got to ligitate and take an aggressive stance against some of these bad policy makers. I suspect it hasn't worked in their favour in this instance because there are some people who are threatened by the way they do business," he says.
Lance Norman says when faced with issues like poverty, homelessness, mental health, high incarceration rates, Maori need hard hitting people to challenge bad policy.
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