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Māori Development Minister Willie Jackson says National shouldn’t distance itself from the policy challenges which flow from New Zealand signing the United Nations’ Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
National leader Judith Collins says He Puapua, an independent advisory report commissioned by his predecessor Nanaia Mahuta, is a roadmap for separatism which it says Labour is implementing by stealth through initiatives such as the Māori Health Authority.
Mr Jackson says Ms Collins should remember it was National which signed New Zealand up to the declaration, and it has a record of advancing treaty settlements and by Māori, for Māori solutions when it is in power.
"What they are trying to make out is this is some sort of separatist strategy going on. No, it's not. It's continuing the work they started and we're looking at our constitution and there are three things going on here – the declaration that National signed us up to, He Puapua which is an independent report, and the plan which we will be working on over the next couple of years," he says.
Minister Jackson says he has not yet put the report before Cabinet.
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