Modern Day Developments Within Māori Society and The Role of the Social Policy Agency as a Provider of Quality Policy Advice

Tipene O’Regan, Api Mahuika

This paper presents semi-verbatim coverage of a seminar held by the Income Maintenance Policy Division of the Social Policy Agency on 22 April 1993. The speakers were Api Mahuika and Tipene O’Regan. They had been asked to discuss recent developments within Māori society, and ways in which the Social Policy Agency could best provide quality, culturally appropriate advice. 1993, as the International Year of Indigenous Peoples, has focused attention worldwide on issues of self-determination for indigenous peoples. In New Zealand these issues have been part of ongoing discussion for many years, and the seminar provided a forum for airing them.

The discussion refers to Pūao-te-Ata-Tū, which was the report of a Ministerial Advisory Committee asked to provide advice on how best to “meet the needs of Māori in policy, planning and service delivery in the Department of Social Welfare”. Tipene O’Regan was involved in writing the report, while Api Mahuika was a founding member of the Komiti Whakahaere, established to advise Ministers and Departmental managers on the implementation of the recommendations contained in the report. Pūao-te-Ata-Tū became the blueprint for bicultural initiatives and practice in the Department of Social Welfare in the 1980s.