Māori leaders consider own review of welfare policy

©On File

The chair of North Island Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency is calling for Māori organisations to come together to discuss the future of social welfare in Aotearoa.

Merepeka Raukawa Tait says since the release of a Newsroom documentary about the attempted uplift of a one week old baby from Hawkes Bay Hospital, Māori providers have been flooded with stories from whānau and social workers about the policies and practices of Oranga Tamariki and other state agencies.

She says while there are now three inquiries into the Ministry for Children, none of them have a Māori lens.

That hasn't happened since the late Sir John Rangihau's Pū Ao Te Ata Tū report into institutional racism in Social Welfare.

"That report by Te Rangihau, that's 33 years old now, and had we implemented all of those recommendations, they're still applicable today, we would not have lost one generation, because that's exactly what has happened, so we have to step up, the leadership has to step up, there's repeated calls coming from our community to say 'can you just do something, this has to stop,' and we are prepared to do something," Mrs Raukawa Tait says.
 

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