Political Parties – New Zealand First:omnibus excerpt
From week ending 2 December 2011
Prior to the election, we provided a series of précis of the policy positions of parties relevant to Māori social, economic and treaty matters. We did not provide an analysis of the New Zealand First Party (NZ First), as the party was not represented in parliament in the last session. However, the election result now shows that NZ First will enter parliament next year with eight members. Results also show that this party received good support in the Māori electorate seats, above that of the National Party for example (refer above).
NZ First has a Māori Affairs policy framework. The party makes the point that Māori experience significant social and economic disparities compared to non-Māori; and these disparities ‘must be confronted’ to ensure Māori are have the same life chances as others. That is, the party’s view is that any services provided must be based on social and economic need (not treaty or first nation rights), but that such needs do exist within the Māori population, and therefore warrant assistance from Government.
The policy proposes a mix of restarting programmes that are said to have run from the Department of Māori Affairs prior to the 1990s, such as trade-training, and mention is also made of further empowering traditional Māori social service providers (Māori Wardens, the Māori Women’s Welfare League, etc). However the driving policy principle is somewhat unclear, in that the policy text also appears to advocate for further devolution of services to Māori to mainstream agencies, referencing back to ‘Ka Awatea’. (Ka Awatea is the name of a 1991 Māori policy framework centred on devolving services to general agencies, which was advanced when Winston Peters was Minister of Māori Affairs in a National Government). Below we have provided a review of the policy proposals against the variables used to consider other parties.
| Salient Policy Positions of Interest from a Māori Policy Perspective | |
| Policies | NZ First |
| Policies that explicitly seek to strengthen constitutional considerations pertaining to the Treaty of Waitangi | No |
| Policies that explicitly support retaining Māori electorates / seats in parliament | No |
| Policies that explicitly propose ‘enhancements’ in Treaty settlements | No |
| Policies that seek to increase the use of Te Reo within communities | Yes |
| Policies that explicitly focus on increasing services / collective interventions for at-risk whānau / children / or young people | Yes |
| Policies that support minimum wage increases and/or welfare support increases | No |
| Policies that explicitly focus on support / interventions for Māori at retirement age | Yes |
| Policies that focus on improving the utility of Māori land / physical assets | Yes |
| Policies that explicitly focus on increasing Māori input on natural resource issues | No |
| Provision of financial projections to pay for social commitments being proposed | No |