Appointments and Awards
- On Tuesday the Minister of Education, Erica Stanford, announced the establishment of a Māori Education Ministerial Advisory Group to:
“provide independent advice on all matters related to Māori education in both English medium and Māori medium settings. It will focus on the most impactful ways we can lift achievement for Māori learners and close the equity gap that has persisted for too long in our education system.”
Initial members of the group are Dr Wayne Ngata, Olivia Hall, Dame Georgina Kingi and Will Workman.[1]
Parliamentary and Related Matters
- Earlier this week 440 Christian church leaders signed an open letter to the Government calling on the Treaty Principles Bill to be abandoned (see Appendix one). The church leaders note their special relationship with Te Tiriti and the risk the bill has to social cohesion in New Zealand.
(By way of background, the Anglican Missionary, Henry Williams, with assistance from his son Edward, provided the original translation of The Treaty into Te Reo. Further, the French Catholic Bishop Pompallier gained an assurance from Captain Hobson at The Treaty signing that “the several faiths (beliefs) of England, of the Wesleyans, of Rome, and also Maori custom shall alike be protected” – which is sometimes called the fourth unwritten article).
Accordingly, then the letter provided to the Government is signed first by the current leaders of the Anglican Church of New Zealand and by the heads of the Catholic Church in New Zealand. (Namely the Most Reverend Don Tamihere, the Most Reverend Justin Duckworth, the Most Reverend Sione Uluilakepa, Archbishop Paul Martin, and Cardinal John Dew.)
The response from Minister David Seymour is of note. On social media he appears to mock falling church attendance rates and to state that because of the letter he considered these church leaders were “abandoning a core, if not the core, Christian belief to play politics”. Minister Seymour’s view being that Christian principle of ‘imago dei’ (people are made in the image of God) was not compatible with current legislative arrangements concerning Te Tiriti o Waitangi. We are not sure how Minister Seymour reached that conclusion, but being charitable (which is a Christian virtue), he is a busy man, so perhaps he just misread the letter, and/or misunderstood their final sentence that their message was sent “with love, and the hope for a flourishing and peaceful future for our people.”
- In Parliament on Tuesday a motion noting with sadness the death of Kiingi Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII, conveying the House’s deepest sympathy was agreed to. As a mark of respect to the late Kiingi Parliament was adjourned until Wednesday. In Appendix two we include extracts of parliamentary speeches made in honour of Kiingi Tuheitia.
[1] Declaration Note: Will Workman is involved in the production of Pānui.
