Summarised by Centrist
In a wide-ranging podcast discussing Waitangi week, Duncan Garner argues for the coalition government’s record on Māori-related issues.
“The record says they are better for Māori than Labour,” he remarks, “but nobody wants to talk about it.”
Garner says that, despite heated rhetoric, the government “haven’t removed one co-governance set-up.” Nor, he adds, have Treaty principles been stripped from legislation.
On Treaty settlements, Garner says, “[National’s] done the most settlements and they’ve done the biggest settlements, and they continue to do them.”
Garner contrasts that explosion in iwi balance sheets with the reality for many Māori families. “Iwi wealth has exploded,” he says, while average Māori households see little direct benefit.
He singles out ACT’s David Seymour for direct involvement in reopening and funding Māori boys’ schools, including Tipene/St Stephens.
“There’s another northern school… going to Parnell to another charter school for Māori that will be funded by David Seymour,” Garner says. “They wouldn’t exist without him.”
Yet he adds that this work is barely acknowledged. “The media hasn’t told the story of Seymour and the Māori schools,” he says, arguing that results-driven Māori education reform is sidelined because it clashes with the preferred political storyline, labelling the government as racist.
Garner says refocusing on literacy and numeracy has delivered the biggest gains for Māori students. “Because Māori had fallen so far behind, they gained the most,” he says, calling it “the best way to honour the Treaty.”
He also points to ongoing Māori cultural funding, including around $20 million for Te Matatini, which undermines claims that the government is anti-Māori.
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