June 28, 2019
Law centres look at kaupapa Māori teams
A boost in base funding for community law centres should lead to a greater Māori focus in their operations.
Tom Harris from the Waitematā Community Law Centre says a large proportion of clients are Māori, and the centres handle everything from civil disputes over boundaries to family cases to high court matters.
He says the announcement last year's $2.2 million increase in base funding will become permanent is great news after a seven-year freeze under the previous National Government.
The funding will keep the lights on and help maintain staff, and the next step will be to develop new services such as Māori kaupapa teams.
"We need Māori to speak to Māori, so more Māori lawyers, a Māori social worker out of each centre. A lot of whānau will come in and they will have maybe one legal issue which is really important but three or four social issues which systemically are keeping them under the pump so we really need to address those issues while we have got them there or we are really doing sort of half the job, " Mr Harris says.
The funding increase was a condition of the Labour-New Zealand First Coalition Agreement.
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