April 30, 2024
Racist myths driving 7AA repeal
A Māori human right advocate says the drive to remove section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act is based on racist and colonial ideas.
In an interim report yesterday the Waitangi Tribunal told Prime Minister Christopher Luxon the move was driven by ideology rather than hard facts, and doing it because ACT demanded it in its coalition agreement would be a breach of the Treaty of Waitangi.
Tina Ngata says the section, which requires the chief executive of the child protection agency to uphold mana tamariki and the principles of the treaty, provides valuable protection for Maori.
She says ACT is punching against Maori taking back the mana over their own destiny and whakapapa, including their children.
“The racist myths that Maori are not rational, that Maori are savage, that Maori are violent which is the pretext for Maori cannot parent, that’s something that goes back to the very earliest myths of colonisation,” Ms Ngata says.
while Maori parenting is over-policed, the state seems blind to its own failings that lead to 87 percent of tamariki Maori in care being further abused.