The new coalition government formed in November 2023 (Photo: RNZ Phil Smith)

An annual monitoring report to the United Nations describes the current government as the “most overtly racist” in Aotearoa in decades.

The Aotearoa Independent Monitoring Mechanism is a Māori working group created in 2015. Members are selected by their iwi and endorsed by the National Iwi Chairs Forum to act as independent experts.

The purpose of the Monitoring Mechanism is to promote and monitor the implementation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Aotearoa.

This is an edited summary of their tenth annual report, which focuses on the impact of the change in government.

The 2023 election brought into power a centre-right coalition government that has implemented regressive policies that either specifically target Māori or will have a disproportionate impact on Māori.

This government has explicitly signalled opposition to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. They will not support a national plan to implement the Declaration, and have also said they will withdraw New Zealand’s support for the Declaration altogether.

Both their policy and legislative agenda, and rhetoric generally, are overtly racist and hostile to Māori, and actively attack Māori rights. As a result, whānau are reporting increased racist and white supremacist aggression around the country.

In requiring cuts across the public service, the government has also created the opportunity for public service agencies to reduce or cut dedicated Māori teams and departments and reduce Māori staff in other areas.

The combined effect of these measures is to put progress towards realising Indigenous Peoples’ rights in Aotearoa back at least 30 to 40 years.

Both specific attacks on Māori and broader assaults on democratic principles go to the heart of both good governance and being a good Te Tiriti o Waitangi partner. They are inconsistent with the human rights principle of non-regression which prohibits “backwards steps” and the erosion of the progressive realisation of human rights.

In response to the actions and rhetoric of the new government, iwi, hapū and other groups have organised to show their opposition and to build kotahitanga (solidarity) with one another.

Progress on Indigenous Peoples’ rights should not be subject to the political mood of the government of the day. It is clear that New Zealand’s lack of constitutional protections has left both Te Tiriti and Indigenous Peoples’ rights open to attack, and the impacts of this are now being felt.

The need for constitutional transformation remains an overarching priority for the Monitoring Mechanism. The changes initiated by the coalition government since November 2023 have made this need even more pressing.

There are few constitutional limits on the actions the government has taken, some of which have abused democratic processes and represent a misuse of power. None of the changes the coalition government have made that affect tangata whenua have been made in consultation with them, undermining the principles of good faith, and free, prior and informed consent.

The Monitoring Mechanism considers that Aotearoa now has the most overtly racist and white supremacist government it has had in decades.

While Māori continue to push for constitutional change founded on Te Tiriti, the government — with no mandate to do so — has instead sought to redefine Te Tiriti in defiance of existing legal and constitutional norms.

In addition to measures targeting Te Tiriti and Treaty principles, in its first few months the coalition government has initiated actions targeted specifically at the rights of Māori, including those related to lands, territories and resources, culture, equity and non-discrimination.

To fund tax cuts that primarily benefit the wealthy, the coalition government has required public service agencies to make cuts of 6.5 to 7.5 percent to their budgets. In many cases, this has meant cuts to operational funding as well as staffing, including significant cuts to, or disestablishment of, dedicated Māori teams within agencies.

This reduction not only affects the people in these roles and their families, it also diminishes the capability of the Crown as a Te Tiriti partner to engage with Māori and to develop robust Māori policy.

The government has also instructed its diplomats to make foreign policy changes, focusing on a shift from Indigenous Peoples’ rights and Pacific priorities (particularly climate change) to focus on military and economic alliances with the US and other Anglosphere partners.

All of these changes have been made unilaterally with no consultation with Māori, much less their free, prior and informed consent. On the contrary, Māori have been vociferously opposed to these actions.

The Crown also continues to assert its ownership over water and to set discriminatory parameters for Māori rights in the foreshore and seabed to be recognised. It is failing to take effective action to address climate change, nor does it recognise the customary obligations of Māori to do so.

The coalition government has signalled that it will focus on English as the primary language within the public sector, including the names of ministries, departments and Crown entities.

Other policies have undermined equity measures and initiatives in child poverty, social welfare, health, justice, child protection and employment. 

In early 2024, it was reported that the overall percentage for children living in material hardship had increased from 10.5 percent to 12.5 percent. For tamariki Māori, the figure is 21 percent. These rates are the highest since reporting was introduced in 2019.

The coalition government has so far not prioritised action on child poverty. However, another of its initiatives — indexing benefits to inflation rather than to wages — will push more families into poverty. Officials advised the government that this change would likely push 7,000 to 13,000 children into poverty within four years. This change will have a disproportionate impact on whānau Māori, who are already over-represented in the benefit system.

Other cuts introduced by the coalition government that will impact whānau are reducing funding by up to 50 percent to a school lunch programme that feeds up to 200,000 children, and cuts to funding for foodbanks.

Various coalition government policies have targeted health reforms made under the previous government. For example, the coalition government has passed legislation disestablishing Te Aka Whai Ora, the Māori Health Authority, under urgency. Passing this legislation under urgency in one two-day sitting not only removed the select committee process, in which the public could comment on the bill, it also removed the Waitangi Tribunal’s jurisdiction to consider whether the proposals breached Te Tiriti. We note this example here to draw attention both to the lack of consultation and to the abuse of democratic processes to erode Indigenous Peoples’ rights. 

With regards to justice matters, the coalition government has abolished legal aid funding for cultural reports for judges to consider in sentencing processes and introduced legislation to ban gang patches in public places.

In addition, a significant new investment in Budget 2024 of $2.5 billion in Department of Corrections and Police funding, disregards recommendations from the Universal Periodic Review to address Māori incarceration levels. Such measures will have a disproportionate impact on Māori, who, like other Indigenous Peoples around the world, are subject to over-policing and over-incarceration and who most acutely experience the poverty and social harms that often lead to justice issues.

A further justice matter concerns the new government’s attempts to redefine the functions of the Waitangi Tribunal. The government has pledged to amend the Waitangi Tribunal’s legislation to refocus the scope, purpose and nature of its inquiries back to the original intent of that legislation. If it does so, this may mean halting the district inquiry programme, which has inquired into historical breaches of Te Tiriti since 1840 and has documented many human rights violations against Māori. This programme is nearing its conclusion, and the Tribunal’s focus is shifting to more contemporary matters, such as the Justice System Kaupapa Inquiry.

The Monitoring Mechanism notes that the Tribunal’s original function was to inquire into contemporary claims, and historical matters have only been traversed since 1985. At the time of writing, no action has yet been taken to redefine the Tribunal’s scope. However, senior ministers have used the proposed review to threaten the Tribunal as it seeks to inquire into the coalition government’s policies affecting Māori.

In relation to child protection, the coalition government has introduced legislation to remove section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act, which sets goals for tamariki Māori, provides for strategic relationships with iwi and Māori organisations, and requires reporting on outcomes for tamariki. In doing so, this section of the Act provided for a practical application of Treaty principles. Several Māori groups lodged urgent claims with the Waitangi Tribunal concerning the removal of section 7AA. The Tribunal delivered its report in May, shortly before the legislation was introduced, finding the “rushed and arbitrary” repeal was in breach of Te Tiriti and likely to cause harm to vulnerable children.

Meanwhile, progress on a national action plan against racism has stalled. Following a recommendation from the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in 2017, the government, Te Kāhui Tika Tangata and communities were collaborating on the development of a national action plan against racism. The working group for the plan included a dedicated tangata whenua caucus. However, the coalition government has changed the focus of the plan, advising the caucus that the focus on colonial racism and institutional racism would be reduced.

Due to this diluted focus, members of the National Iwi Chairs Forum who participated in the caucus announced that they would be withdrawing from work on the plan in April 2024. In addition to the reduced focus on colonialism and institutional racism, Forum members said the coalition government’s broader agenda was another reason for their withdrawal.

To conclude, the government has repeatedly attacked Māori rights, including overt opposition to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and eroded incremental gains made over the last 40 to 50 years.

It has taken both targeted action to erode Māori rights and more general actions that indirectly impact Māori rights to equity.

The Monitoring Mechanism considers the combined effect of these actions is to further embed institutional racism against Māori and set back progressive realisation of equity and equality for Māori.

The actions of the new government have been met by a strong response from tangata whenua. Work on building momentum for constitutional transformation — led by tangata whenua — continues.

The lack of protection of Indigenous Peoples’ rights happens in Aotearoa/New Zealand because we do not have constitutional certainty and constitutional protection for Te Tiriti o Waitangi and Indigenous Peoples’ rights.

This lack of constitutional protection has been thrown into sharp focus since the coalition government took office.

We therefore recommend that the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples urgently conduct a country engagement follow-up in Aotearoa/New Zealand.

Representatives of the Aotearoa Independent Monitoring Mechanism (AIMM) at the 17th session of the United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Geneva, Switzerland 8-12 July 2024 with other Indigenous representatives. From left: Pania Newton and pēpi (Ngā Rangatahi A iwi, AIMM), Kym Hamilton (AIMM), Juan Leon Alvarado (K’iche Mayan – International Indian Treaty Council), Jason Mareroa (Ngā Rangatahi A Iwi, AIMM), Tai Pelli (Taíno nation, Puerto Rico), Shae Brown (Ngā Rangatahi A iwi, AIMM), Francisco Cali Tzay (UN Special Rapporteur for Indigenous Rights) from Guatemala, Macy Duxfield (AIMM), Lidia Arriagada-Garcia ( Mapuche-Chilean) and Rochelle Diver (Anishinabe Nation – International Indian Treaty Council).

E-Tangata, 2024