Part 5: Enhancing our impact in te ao Māori

The public sector needs to perform well for all New Zealanders.

Data regularly demonstrates that Māori experience poorer social and economic outcomes and generally have lower levels of trust in government compared to some other population groups.

In 2024/25, we want to continue building the relevance and impact of our work for Māori.

Accountability framework for Te Wānanga o Raukawa

The Education and Training Amendment Act 2023 established the wānanga-enabling framework, which creates new administrative settings for wānanga to recognise their mana, rangatiratanga, and unique role in the tertiary education system.

Māori perspectives on integrity

In 2022, we created an integrity framework for the public sector. Although the framework was partially informed by Māori frameworks, there is more work to do to fully integrate te ao Māori concepts into the integrity framework.

Work under way: Integrating Māori perspectives of integrity
In 2022/23, we started work to understand more fully what the concept of integrity means and looks like for Māori and how that could be applied in the public sector. In 2024/25, we will publish and promote an updated integrity framework and accompanying guidance that better integrates te ao Māori concepts.

Meeting public sector Treaty settlement commitments

Public organisations need to meet their legal obligations arising from commitments that the Crown made through Treaty settlements. Te Arawhiti – The Office for Māori Crown Relations is monitoring the Crown's progress in meeting these commitments.

In 2023/24, we started work looking at how prepared selected public organisations are to carry out their Treaty settlement commitments. Our audit includes looking at the relationships and accountability arrangements between post-settlement governance entities and public organisations with settlement obligations. We will also look at the systems for overseeing and monitoring how the Crown meets Treaty settlement commitments.

This work aims to assist public organisations with monitoring and reporting functions, such as Te Arawhiti and Te Kawa Mataaho Public Service Commission, to identify how they can better support public organisations to meet their Treaty settlement commitments.

The Public Service response to the Public Service Act 2020

In 2020, a new Public Service Act was introduced. The Act requires:

• Public Service leaders to develop and maintain the capability of the Public Service to engage with Māori and to understand Māori perspectives; and
• the Public Service Commissioner, when developing and implementing the newly required leadership strategy, to recognise the aims, aspirations, and employment requirements of Māori and the need for greater involvement of Māori in the Public Service.

To support the Public Service to meet these commitments, Te Arawhiti developed and led the implementation of Whāinga Amorangi. This is a multi-year cross-agency work programme designed to improve the capability of the Public Service in Māori Crown relations. This work was supported by Te Kawa Mataaho Public Service Commission, Te Puni Kōkiri, and Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori.  

Core Crown agencies were required to prepare plans that describe how they will build the Māori Crown relations capability of their people, relevant to their role and functions. In early 2022, those plans were considered by a panel of experts, hosted by Te Arawhiti.

We are interested in how this work has progressed.