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Government infrastructure within the Māori Affairs portfolio comprises Te Puni Kōkiri, Te Māngai Pāho, Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori, and the Māori Television Service. This section provides an overview of each of these entities: separate briefings from Te Māngai Pāho, Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori, and the Māori Television Service are also attached. This section also provides an overview of the Māori Trustee and Hui Taumata, which while aligned to the portfolio, are independent entities that do not operate at the direction of the Minister of Māori Affairs.
Te Puni Kōkiri was established by the Ministry of Māori Development Act 1991, and com-menced operations on 1 January 1992. Section 5 of the establishment legislation provides for a sharpened set of responsibilities, including:
a Promoting increases in the levels of achievement attained by Māori with respect to: i Education ii Training and employment iii Health iv Economic resource development
b Monitoring, and liaising with, each department and agency that provides or has a responsibility to provide services to or for Māori for the purpose of ensuring the adequacy of those services.
Since its establishment, Te Puni Kōkiri’s core functions have evolved, consistent with changing approaches to Māori Affairs policy and associated decisions of governments of the day. Key approaches have included:
i Mainstreaming Policy, requiring mainstream agencies to be responsible for the delivery of effective services to Māori. During this period, Te Puni Kōkiri’s core functions were centred on policy advice, monitoring main-stream services, facilitating access to local services, and the transfer of programmes previously administered by the Department of Māori Affairs and Iwi Transition Agency to mainstream agencies;
ii Closing the Gaps, and its successor policy approach of Reducing Inequalities, requir-ing a sharpened focus on the quality of social and economic outcomes achieved by Māori. During this period, the policy, monitoring and facilitation roles were supplemented by added emphasis on: functions akin to central agency monitoring roles; relationship management; and the delivery of capacity building programmes at the local level; and
iii Realising Māori Potential, which is the current Māori Affairs policy approach. While this policy approach has not impact-ed on the core functions of the Ministry, it has significantly changed the underlying approach to those functions. The ultimate aim of the Māori Potential Approach is to better position Māori to build and leverage off their collective resources, knowledge, skills and leadership capability to improve their overall life quality. It sharpens the Ministry’s policy focus on Māori people being the key catalyst for achieving excep-tional life quality, and seeks to support the choices and aspirations of Māori people and communities.
The Ministry’s current core functions, which are centred around its role as the principal advisor on Crown – Māori relationships, include: leading and influencing public policy effecting Māori; managing and advising on Crown – Māori relationships at the national and local level; and partnering Māori initiative with investment and facilitation to support the aspirations of Māori people to realise their own potential.
Organisational Form
Since its establishment, Te Puni Kōkiri has maintained a relatively consistent organisa-tional form, reflecting the key functional areas of the provision of public policy advice, relationship management and investing in Māori initiative at the local level, and corpo-rate support services.
