April 01, 2019
Time to report on indigenous rights progress
The Government says it's time for New Zealand to get serious about the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Māori Development Minister Nanaia Mahuta says it will develop a plan to drive and measure Aotearoa New Zealand’s progress towards the aspirations set out in the declaration.
She says the move to a post settlement environment and the increasing participation of Māori in the economy, as increasing innovation in Māori engagement by the crown, means the time is right.
"That is really around the way in which in New Zealand, thinking around Māori participation in the environment, co-management agreements, treaty settlements and the like have urged us to say let's come up with a national plan of action and start to report from a New Zealand context how we are making progress on the declaration articles," Ms Mahuta says.
A technical working group will be appointed to provide advice about what the partnership process should look like, and there will be engagement with Māori in the second half of the year.
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