May 03, 2023
Rōpū Māori call on Government to defend co-governance
National Iwi Chairs Forum, the New Zealand Māori Council and the Māori Women’s Welfare League have called on the government to actively promote co-governance because it is good for all New Zealanders.
League president Hope Tupara says there is a lot of misunderstanding in the community about the concept.
She says some parties have been whipping up controversy about things like Three Waters and the shelved He Puapua report on implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
“The ACT Party for example talk about co-government. That’s not what Māori have been talking about. We’re a bit far off from that. But maybe in the future that’s where Māori obviously want to go. We would really like to work together with the government no matter who’s in Government to be able to come up with solutions that are going to be working for us all,” Dr Tupara says.
She says ACT and National talk about working for all New Zealanders,. but nothing they say convinces her they have her back as a Māori woman.