'Spurious and chicanerous' - Tama Potaka rejects claims Māori-Crown relationship at an 'all time low'

6:33 pm today

Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka.

Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi

Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka has traded barbs with opposition MP's over claims the Māori-Crown relationship is at an "all time low."

Potaka and officials from Te Puni Kōkiri fronted the Māori Affairs Committee on Wednesday as part of scrutiny week at Parliament.

They faced a range of questions over Māori Development estimates from Whānau Ora, to housing, to marae resiliency, ending with the revitalisation of te reo.

Potaka clashed with Green MP Steve Abel when Abel said the relationship between the government and Māori was at an "all time low".

"How do you as the minister responsible for the post-settlement relationship and for the broader principle of there being a healthy Māori relationship, deal with that reality?"

"Well, first I think your opinion is spurious and chicanerous and it is a very strong opinion, but it's both mischievous and dangerous to be opining that way," Potaka responded.

Abel said it was not his opinion and pointed to the Waitangi Tribunal's finding that proposed legislation reforming Treaty provisions carried a risk of harm to the Māori-Crown relationship.

"Hand on heart Tama, and I know you are out in the community as we all are, are you not receiving the feedback from iwi Māori that they find this government to be in an unrelenting assault and attack on them?"

Potaka said there was not a binary response to that question. "You're asking for a yes or no and I'm not prepared to give that, so I think that there are some challenges there are some things that could be better, but there are some things that are going really really well."

The back and forth prompted chairperson David MacLeod to remind members of the committee to stick to the agenda.

Green MP Steve Abel at select committee for the Treaty Principles Bill.

Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone

Marae resiliency and severe weather events

Labour MP Georgie Dansey asked why there was nothing in this year's Budget to support marae through severe weather events after a $1 million one-off fund was made available in the wake of the deadly storms that struck the North Island in January.

Potaka acknowledged that there had been challenging storms and noted the government had provided additional funding to relocate seven Marae in Hawkes Bay and Te Tairāwhiti.

"Not all that money goes through Te Puni Kōkiri, not all the work goes through Te Puni Kōkiri, but we are holding those various agencies to account or liaising with them to ensure that the agencies are responsive in front and behind massive events," he said.

Abel asked why, in the context of extreme weather happening more often, the government was not funding marae resilience.

"Why is it a $1 million compensation after the fact rather then an active funding of greater marae resilience?"

Potaka said the government had used funds in a responsible way to ensure those marae that have been severely affected were given support.

"But if what you're saying is we should go out as a government and rebuild the thousand marae to accommodate the one in one month, or one in 10 year, or one in 100 year event that's a different discussion."

Abel pressed that communities relied on marae during severe weather events, but the government was pushing marae to dig even deeper into their own pockets without government support.

Māori broadcasting and te reo revitalisation

The last thing on the agenda for the Committee on Wednesday was Māori broadcasting and the entities charged with leading the revitalisation of te reo.

A $48 million boost for Māori broadcasting was one of the only areas of new targeted Māori spending in Budget 2026.

Potaka said the Crown recognised it had a duty to actively protect te reo and one way it did that was by supporting Māori media and broadcasting entities.

"There have been some rises and falls in the amount of funding that's been available to Māori language entities over time, and it's my hope that we can have more of a shared outcomes framework across all the entities so everyone is on a similar waka, paddling a similar way."

How the funding boost might be distributed between Te Māngai Pāho and Whakaata Māori had yet to be determined, he said. But he said it was his hope that some of that additional funding would be baselined.

Te Puni Kōkiri deputy secretary, governance and corporate Steven Sutton confirmed that the baseline funding for two language entities - Te Mātāwai and Te Taura Whiri - had remained the same year on year.

The $48 million in new funding is held in contingency until Potaka and Finance Minister Nicola Willis approved how it was to be split, Sutton said.

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