June 30, 2015
Small steps not enough for minister
Education Minister Hekia Parata is waiting for fresh elections for the board of Te Kohanga Reo National Trust, which could clear a stalemate over negotiations for a new funding structure for the movement.
The board had said it wouldn’t institute promised reforms until its current trustees negotiated a settlement of the movement’s Treaty of Waitangi claim, but it seems to have blinked in the face of the minister’s insistence on modern governance as a precondition for talks.
It has set up an independent panel to assess nominations to fill two vacancies on the board, which it says will allow it to test a new process for appointments.
It has also asked the Charities Commission to change the trust deed to limit board membership to five years, and says it intends to start the changes by replacing to members next year.
Ms Parata says she’s pleased to hear lifetime appointments are going, but it’s not enough.
"The next steps need to be that whanau around the country are given the opportunity to have their representatives on a modern entity so that's great but it is nowhere near far enough in the expectation of what modern governance looks like, and I have communicated that to the trust," she says.
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