We continued to work with iwi as part of our commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi - Annual Report 2019/20
This year we formally established a new business group – Māori, Communities and Partnerships – under a dedicated Deputy Chief Executive who is responsible for building Māori capability internally, and for connecting and collaborating to build effective partnerships and community approaches to achieve better outcomes.
In addition, we:
- began implementing the action plan articulated under our Māori responsiveness strategy, Te Pae Tata
- revitalised our post-settlement accords
- progressed a range of relationship agreements with iwi as part of our commitment to our Te Tiriti o Waitangi obligations
- partnered with a range of iwi, hapū and marae across various work areas, including through the COVID-19 response
- tested new procurement approaches to ensure that services were effective for key client groups, particularly Māori
- used Te Ao Māori approaches in working with particularly vulnerable communities
- redefined and enhanced the relationship with the Māori Reference Group, the advisory group to our Leadership Team
- continued to strengthen our relationship with the national Iwi Chairs Forum
- supported the development of positions on the sovereignty of Māori data
- worked across agencies to foster an all-of-government lens on Māori issues as part of our core business
- embedded new processes that support and uphold our Te Tiriti obligations.
Throughout COVID-19 many iwi and Māori organisations have been active in communities as part of the response. There have been many examples of Crown and iwi/Māori communities working in partnership throughout the crisis; for example, we engaged in daily iwi/Crown engagement during national Alert Level 4, and this meant we worked together on appropriate community responses.
We began actioning Te Pae Tata, our Māori responsiveness strategy
A key priority of Te Pae Tata is strengthening our partnerships with iwi as a Treaty partner. This year we:
- partnered with Manaaki Tairāwhiti and with Matariki and Tairāwhiti Economic Action Plan (TEAP) groups, the Wairoa Community Partnership group and others to work collectively across the Tairāwhiti region, and to ensure that the needs of whānau are well represented in actions
- partnered with Ngāti Whātua and the Manukau Urban Māori Authority on the co-location of MSD case managers into marae such as Te Puea Marae, to give whānau more options for accessing support
- supported iwi and Māori organisations to deliver services to whānau and to channel real-time information to agencies about critical local issues during COVID-19
- partnered with the Iwi Radio Network to ensure that Māori whānau and communities received key tailored messages about COVID-19 during the national lockdown period in simple and informative ways
- participated in nine active Treaty settlement negotiations with iwi who have expressed a desire to establish a relationship with MSD
- entered into discussions with two further iwi who have indicated an interest in formalising a relationship with MSD.
MSD also leads two multilateral agreements:
- Te Hiku o Te Ika - Iwi/Crown Social Development and Wellbeing Accord
- On 28 February 2020 the Letter of Intent between MSD (on behalf of Crown agencies) and Te Hiku Iwi Development Trust was signed to signal the Crown’s commitment to promoting long-term sustainability for the joint work programme.
- Service Management Plan with Tūhoe
- We are working with Tūhoe and with participating agencies in the Service Management Plan to update our next set of five-year commitments. This work continues to strengthen the long-term relationship between the Crown and Tūhoe to bring better social and economic outcomes for Tūhoe.
