April 19, 2024
Māori view purged from Oranga Tamariki
Te Pāti Māori’s Oranga Tamariki spokesperson says job cuts at the Children’s Ministry reflect a world view where Māori don’t count.
The ministry has announced the loss of more than 400 positions including the disestablishment of its treaty response unit.
The Government is also changing the Oranga Tamariki Act to remove section 7aa, which binds the agency to a practical commitment to the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi.
Mariameno Kapa-Kingi says it shows there is no room for a Maori viewpoint.
“Every day a dozen times in the House I hear the statement ‘we are all New Zealanders.’ Every time I say the words or any one of our team say Maori, rangatiratanga, whakapapa, you can hear this ‘we’re all New Zealanders’ which we know means ‘we’re all the same’ which means their same,” she says.
Mariameno Kapa-Kingi says the Government’s view is that if whanau end up with children in state care it is their own fault, so they deserve whatever is done to them.