A former chief executive of Te Puni Kōkiri is giving qualified support for the Office for Māori-Crown Relations – Te Arawhiti – to be scaled back and placed under his old ministry.
Despite iwi leaders protests, the coalition Government is going ahead with the move – with one stated goal being to improve regional Maori economic development.
Leith Comer, who now chairs Bay of Plenty iwi Ngati Rangitihi, says he’s keen to see Tama Potaka, as the responsible minister for both agencies, and Shane Jones as Regional Development Minister working together.
“I’ll be reserving a little bit of my support for this new move, until I see how its being implemented. And I hope with Te Puni Kokiri being slightly more focused towards economic and regional development – with their resources that they’ve got out in the regions, and working with Minister Jones I hope to see some better outcomes for Maori,” he says.
mr Comer says he understands Maori distrust of the coalition Government, but in this specific case he thinks it could be a positive development.
