Ngāi Tahu is mounting a legal challenge to the (former) Minister of Conservation's appointment decisions for the West Coast Conservation Board. It appears the iwi has a beef with the Minister for having the impudence to reappoint a member of the board without engagement with tangata whenua and Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu as treaty partner. Continue reading

Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta is vowing to remove the public poll option when councils vote to create Māori wards. Mahuta, who retained the portfolio after the October general election, said she was "all ready to go once the government is formed". Continue reading

The Local Electoral Act’s binding poll system is a form of direct democracy that enables local electors to choose for themselves by simple majority vote whether or not they support race-based council representation. However, to trigger a poll 5 percent of electors must support a petition to hold the referendum. Campaigns to do so have already started in several regions. Please offer your support and encouragement to those who are standing up for the right to have a say on whether we support designated race-based seats at the council table. Continue reading

In September Democracy Action, in conjunction with the Auckland Ratepayers Alliance, released a briefing paper that we have been working on for some time. The paper, titled ‘Atawhai: Generosity for some’, shows how in just six years Auckland Council spent at least $129 million on targeted Māori spending and iwi consultation. And the bill is increasing. Last year’s spend came to $30 million – more than double the $13 million spent six years ago. Continue reading

Labour’s Māori Manifesto 2020 recommits to the partnership path with Māori. They will continue to support the role of Māori Crown relations – Te Arawhiti in growing the capability and capacity of government departments and organisations to be better Treaty partners, promising to look to take even bolder steps to create change. Continue reading

The Ministry of Education is about to implement a programme to radically change our education system. True to the doctrine of a Treaty partnership, the Ministry has been working with Māori academics and educationalists to design a blueprint for a ‘transformative shift’ in the education of our children and grandchildren. Continue reading

Every six years local bodies are obliged to review the ward system. We have seen a flurry of such activity over the past few months, with both New Plymouth and Tauranga acting to establish Māori wards, and others considering whether to follow suit.  Continue reading

We are getting close to the big day, Saturday 17 October, the day when we exercise our right to choose who will make the decisions that will affect our lives, our country. With the election campaign well underway, we have been looking at each party’s policy statements specifically relating to democracy and the equality of citizenship on which it is based. Continue reading

Today we release an important document that we've been working on for some time. Our paper, titled Atawhai: Generosity for some, shows how, in just six years, Auckland Council spent at least $129 million on iwi consultation and targeted Māori spending. Continue reading

Democracy Action strongly opposes the decisions of District Health Boards to prioritise Māori and Pasifika patients on elective surgery waiting lists. We believe priority should be based on clinical urgency and the time a patient has waited, not race. When someone is bumped up the list, someone else must be moved down. Continue reading