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Te Puni Kōkiri is positioned as an integrated policy Ministry, discharging across its three Wāhanga the full range of policy functions, including legislative reform, core policy advice, research, programme management, invest-ment and purchasing, relation-ship management, monitoring and evaluation, and the corporate services that support the efficient and transparent discharge of those functions. The 2008-09 Statement of Intent provides a description of the Ministry’s current work programme: for the purposes of this briefing, key output areas that are likely to come to the early attention of the Incoming Minister are highlighted.
Te Puni Kōkiri is the government’s principal advisor on Crown-Māori relationships. The discharge of this role is reflected across all of its outcome areas, functions and key output areas. Key outputs of particular importance to Crown-Māori relationships are highlighted below.
Te Puni Kōkiri provides advice about the mandate of claimant groups to negotiate settlements on behalf of members, and the ratification of settlement packages by iwi members and post-settlement governance entities. These roles also apply to negotiations with iwi undertaken as part of the Foreshore and Seabed Act 2004. Te Puni Kōkiri also has a significant programme of investments in building the leadership, governance and management capability of post settlement governance entities.
In addition to these roles, Te Puni Kōkiri has assumed some related functions over the last two years, including: being increasingly engaged in mediation to support settle-ment negotiations; and leading some of the ‘outside of settlement’ work areas. Examples of this work include: the Mauao Vesting Act 2008, the negotiations and legislative process for the Whakarewarewa Valley Lands and Roto-ā-Tamaheke Vesting Bill and the current negotiations for the vesting of the Māori Arts and Crafts Institute in iwi. Te Puni Kōkiri is a member of the Treaty Sector Advisory Group, which is considering the needs of the sector as a whole, and the implementation of the ‘regional approach’ to settlements.
Key emerging policy issues in the settlements sector include: pressures on the overall fiscal framework for settlements; the associated relativities issues that may arise from recent settlements; the need for clarity around the approach taken to the use of natural resources and conservation lands in settlements, includ-ing the flexibility in redress instruments; and a range of more operational issues.
Te Puni Kōkiri utilises a regional network of 19 offices (including 9 district satellites), to ensure a depth of relationship with Māori communities that it believes would not other-wise be present between those communities and central government. The relationships built by the regional network provide a strong foundation through which Māori and other stakeholders, including non-Māori, local and central government and the private sector, can interact with confidence.
There has also been a shift in the way in which Government engages with Māori, most notably in the natural resources and climate change arenas, where structured arrangements are in place to engage Māori at the leadership and technical level during the development of core policy platforms. Māori have embraced this approach, which has likely reduced future risks associated with legislation in these areas. Te Puni Kōkiri has been instrumental in advising on these structures for Māori engagement.
New Zealand is party to various international instruments, fora and initiatives to support the development of its social, cultural and economic interests. Te Puni Kōkiri provides advice about indigenous issues to support New Zealand’s engagement in this arena. This includes: advice to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade on international instruments and initiatives; participation in international fora (in particular, the united Nations Pemanent Forum for Indigenous People); and, support for Māori experts to attend selected international fora.
Culture is the unique and distinguishing feature of Māori vis-à-vis non-Māori, and is the foundation for the sharpened focus of Te Puni Kōkiri’s policy advice. Te Puni Kōkiri considers culture from the perspective of both the artefacts of culture (such as language and arts) and the values, norms, behaviours and infra-structure that shape the fabric of Māori society.
The Cultural Futures Report, which is in its early stages of development, will seek to identify the cultural drivers that impact on the fabric of Māori and New Zealand society, and how those drivers affect the decisions that Māori people make that impact on their social and economic wellbeing. The report will also explore the health of the Māori culture, and identify opportunities to achieve cultural advantage. This is the next stage of Te Puni Kōkiri’s futures work, following on from the economic futures report Ngā Kaihanga Hou.
Taonga Māori
Taonga Māori represent the manifestations of culture, and are a significant component of the health of Māori culture. Key output areas for Te Puni Kōkiri in this area include:
Over recent years Māori have achieved improvements across many indicators of well-being, most recently highlighted in the trend data available in the Social Report. However, Māori continue to experience relatively poorer outcomes than other New Zealanders, indicat-ing that Māori social potential has yet to be fully realised. Te Puni Kōkiri works across government agencies, with non-government organisations and directly with Māori communities, providing advice and local in-terventions that are aimed at improving social outcomes for Māori.
In maintaining a focus on realising Māori potential, the basis for the development of Te Puni Kōkiri’s social policy advice and intervention is premised on what is important within a Māori cultural construct, and the particular opportunities presented by the current circumstances of Māori people. To that end, wellbeing is considered from the holistic perspectives of whānau wellbeing, and realising rangatahi potential. Te Puni Kōkiri also has a significant role in advising on systems issues within the social policy sector.
Strong, supportive and inclusive whānau are a pre-requisite for achieving positive Māori wellbeing. Whānau are the core unit of Māori society, and as such are the most effective agent in changing the life circumstances of individual Māori. Te Puni Kōkiri has been working to mobilise whānau to enhance Māori outcomes in critical social development areas including education, health, justice, housing and the labour market. It consistently offers social policy advice that is anchored in whānau as the optimal unit for consideration and intervention, setting individuals within the context of their family, rather than premising policy on the basis of individual entitlement.
The Māori population has a relatively youth-ful profile, with 53.1% of Māori below the ages of 25 in 2006, compared to 35.7% of the non-Māori population. Positioning rangatahi for successful futures is possibly the most significant opportunity that exists to create enduring and inter-generational change for Māori people. Across all areas of social policy and intervention, Te Puni Kōkiri maintains a consistent approach of seeking to shift rangatahi along a continuum from remedial type inter-ventions at one end, towards achievement and potential focused interventions at the other.
Key areas of focus for realising rangatahi potential are education, employment and enterprise.
Te Puni Kōkiri engages across all areas of social policy and intervention, and as a result, is well positioned to advise on the systems and processes that government utilises to deliver its social policy agenda. Key areas of work have included:
In the broad area of economic resources and development, Te Puni Kōkiri maintains a focus on Māori rights, interests and use of natural resources, strengthening Māori organisations, and fostering economic success. In late 2007, Te Puni Kōkiri released the first stage of its futures work, Ngā Kaihanga Hou, for Māori Future Makers, which signals priorities for positioning Māori for optimal economic futures.
Te Puni Kōkiri works across the natural resources policy arena, with a particular focus on Māori rights, interests and use of natural resources. This work is principally (although not exclusively) led from other agencies, and includes work on climate change, aquaculture, fisheries, sustainability, forestry, biodiversity, oceans policy, freshwater and Māori land. Of emerging importance is the need for a disciplined approach to the consideration of Māori rights and interests in natural resources. The absence of such an approach has tended to result in contemporary issues being addressed via the Treaty settlements process, and the consequential development of a range of new forms of redress mechanisms. While there are clearly some gains from this approach, the flexible use of such instruments has raised claimant expectations, and will create downstream implementation challenges. Te Puni Kōkiri is a member of a range of cross-agency groups, whose fo-cus is in on co-ordinating work on natural resources, including the Chief Executives’ Natural Resources Board, the Climate Change Governance Group, Aquaculture Group and the Deputy Secretaries Sustainability Forum.
Te Puni Kōkiri has maintained a programme of work over a number of years aimed at strengthening the capacity and capability of Māori organisations. This has been reflected through capacity building programmes, investment in a range of entities, and advising on the development and appropriateness of post-settlement governance entities to receive Treaty settlements.
A key area of focus has been on the development of proposals for a new form of legal entity to provide enhanced governance over communal assets. This has resulted in the Waka umanga (Māori Corporations) Bill, which forms part of the Ministry’s legislative programme.
Similarly, proposals for establishing the Māori Trustee as a stand-alone entity, and establish-ing a new entity to promote Māori economic development, have been driven through priorities associated with strengthening Māori organisations to enhance benefits to Māori. These proposals also form part of the Ministry’s legislative programme.
In late 2007, Te Puni Kōkiri released the first stage of its futures work, Ngā Kaihanga Hou, for Māori Future Makers. This research identified key drivers of future economic change that would impact on Māori, and established the foundation for how the Ministry’s effort and resources would be prioritised to position Māori for optimal economic futures. This includes investing in the key areas of: broadening the skills base of Māori; diversifying the Māori asset base; enhancing export participation; and growing entrepreneurship and innovation.
In 2008 this work was further refined, with sharpened consideration of Māori economic futures in Auckland. The Auckland futures work is expected be ready for release late in the 2008 calendar year.
During the last year, Te Puni Kōkiri has led a significant programme of legislation. During 2008, the Mauao Historic Reserve Vesting Act, and the 4 Acts arising from the Māori Purposes Bill received the Royal Assent and passed into law. There remains a large programme of Māori Affairs legislation which has Parliamentary stages yet to complete, and policy reforms that are expected to lead to proposals for legislative change in the near future.
The Minister of Māori Affairs is currently responsible for four Bills which were before the House on the dissolution of Parliament. Section 3, Key Decisions Pending, provides an overview of these Bills, and recommendations for action for the reinstatement of House business. Those bills are the:
There is also a significant programme of negotiations and policy reform underway which is expected to result in further legislation being developed. This work programme includes:
Information has been withheld under section 9(2)(f)(iv) to maintain constitutional conventions as decisions have yet to be taken by Ministers.
Robust research and information is critical to delivering evidence-based policy advice, and successful engagement with Māori. Te Puni Kōkiri is developing its information manage-ment systems to become an emerging centre for indigenous knowledge and Māori potential research, with the view to providing mecha-nisms for this information to be accessed by other agencies and community stakeholders to assist them with their planning and invest-ment priorities.
Through its establishment legislation, Te Puni Kōkiri is charged with monitoring and liaising with each agency that provides, or has a responsibility to provide, services to or for Māori, for the purpose of ensuring the adequacy of those services.
The liaison component of this role is discharged across all areas of the Ministry, as part of its core interactions with other agencies and policy advice role. The monitoring component of this role has evolved over time, with a range of different monitoring tools being available to the Ministry.
Currently, there are three core dimensions of the Ministry’s monitoring role. In terms of ex ante monitoring, the Ministry engages with other state sector agencies to inform and shape the planning and outcome targets established by other agencies to measure their own performance. This is an important dimension of the monitoring role, as it locates the performance incentives directly with the agency accountable for that performance.
In terms of ex post monitoring, Te Puni Kōkiri is currently trialling a new monitoring tool which aims to assess the State Sector’s collective effort in outcome areas of high priority for Māori development. This approach better reflects the efforts of agencies to collaborate in the provision of many key services, and is more sharply focused on what is achieved for Māori. A key component of this approach is to identify, and promote, good practice in terms of service design and delivery to Māori. During the current year, Te Puni Kōkiri expects to:
Finally, Te Puni Kōkiri also monitors and publishes statistical data on Māori outcomes. It works with other agencies, such as Statistics New Zealand, to ensure the high quality collection and interpretation of official statistics about Māori.
Te Puni Kōkiri has direct operational respons-ibility for a range of programmes provided for by government. A brief overview of each of these programmes is provided below.
Māori Potential funding supports the Māori Potential Approach through the provision of outcomes-based investments that support Māori to realise their potential. The funding became available on 1 July 2006 as a result of aligning existing programme funding to the Māori Potential Approach, and aggregating it into three new Non-departmental Output Expenses: Mātauranga; Whakamana and Rawa.
Māori Potential funding appropriations for 2008/09 total approximately $22.4 million across the 3 output expenses. As of the end of October, $12,834,200 of this amount has been contractually committed, $4,798,395 has been committed but is yet to be contracted, and $4,725,405 remains untagged. Accordingly, officials will initiate early engagement with the Incoming Minister to discuss priorities for the untagged portion of the funding.
The Kaitātaki ā Rohe programme assists Māori development at a community level by directly supporting Māori Community Development Workers (known as Kaitātaki a Rohe) within communities. Te Puni Kōkiri contracts with Māori organisations, which appoint and man-age these workers within their organisation. Funding of $2.1 million is provided through the Operations Management Departmental Output Expense for this programme.
The Kapohia ngā Rawa programme enables placement of key workers (with specific expertise) into Māori communities to ensure informed decision making and to develop opportunities at the community level. Its key point of distinction with the Kaitātaki ā Rohe programme is that Kapohia ngā Rawa key workers are contracted directly to Te Puni Kōkiri as departmental staff rather than con-tracted through the Māori community or or-ganisation. Funding of $2.9 million is provided through the Operations Management Depart-mental Output Expense for this programme.
In 2007, the Government agreed to invest in a programme to build the capacity and capabil-ity of the Māori Wardens. Based within Te Puni Kōkiri, this initiative is a joint project with the New Zealand Police. It provides an integrated suite of support to Māori Wardens to increase their ability to work within their regions, including the provision of training (350 War-dens have completed to date); co-ordination support; physical resources (including safety and communications equipment, and vehicles); and direct funding for local initiatives. The project was piloted with an initial six regions, and is being extended to a further eight regions in the current financial year.
The Māori Wardens Advisory Group, which includes representatives from the New Zealand Māori Council, New Zealand Māori Wardens Association, Māori Women’s Welfare League, the National Kohanga Reo Trust, the New Zealand Police and Te Puni Kōkiri, has been established to develop recommendations for an effective governance model for Māori Wardens. Depending on the recommendation of this group, which are expected in early 2009, this may lead to recommendations for legislative amendment to the Māori Community Development Act. A joint group of the Māori Wardens Association and the New Zealand Māori Council was recently formed to expedite issues pertaining to the issuing of Māori Warden warrants. In 2008/09, funding of $3.635 million is provided through Vote Māori Affairs for this project. This does not include an additional $1 million that is provided through Māori Potential non-departmental output expenses to enable the Māori Wardens to deliver community programmes, or the contribution from the New Zealand Police for the purchase of vans and personnel costs.
The MBFS was established in 2000 to provide advice and mentoring assistance to Māori seeking to establish a business. Over time the service has evolved, and undertakes a broader range of activities to support Māori commercial success, including:
The MBFS typically works with up to 500 clients per year.
The future of the MBFS depends on decisions with respect to the Māori Trustee and Māori Development Amendment Bill. On the enact-ment of this Bill, and the establishment of MBANZ, the functions of the MBFS will transfer to MBANZ, and Te Puni Kōkiri baseline funding will decrease by $4.2 million a year, with a corresponding capital injection to the MBANZ of $40.5 million. until this Bill pro-gresses, the status quo, of MBFS as an operational responsi-bility of Te Puni Kōkiri, remains.
The SHAZ programme targets the resolution of serious housing needs amongst whānau, hapū, iwi and Māori communities within the designated ‘Special Housing Action Zones’ of Tāmaki Makaurau, Tairāwhiti, Te Moana a Toi and Te Tai Tokerau. SHAZ is a non-depart-mental appropriation totalling $456,000 for 2008/09.
Te Puni Kōkiri administers this small discre-tionary grant appropriation of $480,000 per annum. The purpose of these grants is to provide financial assistance to promote and enhance initiatives for the social, economic and cultural advancement of Māori.
Te Puni Kōkiri’s key priorities for the develop-ment of organisational health are set out in three key strategic documents:
The State Services Commission has set development goals for the state services, to which Te Puni Kōkiri contributes. Key contributions are outlined below.
Te Puni Kōkiri’s People Capability Strategy to 2010 is aimed at attracting, developing and retaining a sustainable supply of highly skilled people who will effectively contribute to Māori succeeding as Māori.
A review of people capability identified recruitment and retention of experienced staff as a key focus for Te Puni Kōkiri. A range of initiatives have been used to address recruit-ment and retention, and have resulted in staff turnover reducing from a high of 26% in 2005 to the current rate of a little over 12%.
Like all government agencies, Te Puni Kōkiri is constantly trying to present its stakeholders with clear and consistent messages about its role, purpose and functions. A recent update of the Ministry’s website, and the current updating of the intranet site provide key vehicles through which to achieve this.
It is Te Puni Kōkiri’s intention by 2010 to establish common standards for efficiency and cost-effectiveness, and measure the use of resources accordingly. This will be made transparent through greater use of measure-ment techniques and tools, and will support the evidential basis for the Ministry’s policy advice and service design and delivery.
In addition, Te Puni Kōkiri is currently develop-ing a process to document and measure the public value it creates, and has recently signed an agreement with the State Services Commission to use the Common Measure-ments Tool (which was used for the Kiwis Count Survey) that will enable the measure-ment of client satisfaction and more impor-tantly, identify service delivery improvements for service users. It will also provide a gauge against which to consider the appropriate-ness of the Ministry’s work, how it is valued by stakeholders and to include initiatives to create enhanced public value at the commu-nity level.
Te Puni Kōkiri leads and contributes to a number of cross-agency initiatives that support improvements in Māori outcomes in the social and criminal justice sectors. This currently includes work within the Effective Interventions, Skills Strategy, Schools Plus, Natural Resources, Climate Change and Treaty sector cross-agency work-streams.
Te Puni Kōkiri, particularly in the regions, maintains a key role in linking Māori commu-nities and organisations with other agencies and services. Instrumental to the effective discharge of this role are:
Te Puni Kōkiri has actively committed to the Standards of Integrity and Conduct, by encouraging all staff to comply with the code. Regular pānui are circulated to ensure that all staff act with a spirit of service to stakehold-ers and that they strive for high standards of integrity and conduct in everything that Te Puni Kōkiri does.
In-house training has been provided for staff in all regional offices and resources put in place to give effect to maintaining and enhancing trustworthy behaviour.
Te Puni Kōkiri also has other initiatives that instil confidence of those outside the Ministry in its people, systems and processes, in particular:
