Chronology for 1835-1899
The colonial redistribution of welfare: Dismantling hapū ora
This period opens with a politically and socio-economically robust iwi Māori population of around 80,000 people.[i] go to footnote Whenua and whakapapa form the basis of hapū and whānau wellbeing. W.H. Oliver argues that the first instrument of social policy in New Zealand was the system set up by Hobson in 1840 for the purchase and resale to settlers of Māori land.[ii] go to footnote Pākehā welfare was dependent on the continued dispossession of Māori land.[iii]go to footnote
The New Zealand Wars (1845–1872) either directly or indirectly impacted all iwi Māori throughout New Zealand.[iv] go to footnote Related legislative measures enabled the Crown to alienate Māori land and taonga across the motu prior to and beyond the next century via confiscation, land tenure reforms, local legislative measures and contested land purchases.
Iwi Māori assertions of rangatiratanga and resistance to the alienation of lands occurred across the motu, either physically, through the courts, via direct petitioning to the government or through the simple occupation of lands. Such measures led to some government concessions, such as the Sims Commission and South Island Landless Natives Act 1906,[v] go to footnote but after 1872 resistance also sometimes led to the government’s use of force in the later 19th century and well into the 20th century. (eg, Parihaka in 1881, Waima in 1898, Takaparawhāu in 1978).[vi] go to footnote
By the end of the 19th century Māori were a minority of the national. In 1896 the Māori population hit an all-time low of 42,650, compared to a Pākehā population of just over 700,000. Although the Māori population was recovering, their communities were reeling from land alienation, decline of resources, indebtedness, diseases and Māori communities survived on subsistence economies, with a growing dependence on paid work.
Māori were either excluded or faced barriers to accessing welfare support introduced during this period.
Chronology events
Displaying 181 - 190 of 270 events.
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Social Security Amendment Act
Changes recommended in the Puao-Te-Ata-Tu report are embodied in this Act. Puao-Te-Ata-Tu recommended the government adopt a bicultural approach to policy formulation and incorporate the “values, cultures and beliefs” of Māori in the formulation of legisla…
Date: 1987 Period: 1972-1989 -
He Tirohanga Rangapu
In April 1988 Labour released the He Tirohanga Rangapu: Partnership Perspectives report focusing on the Department of Māori Affairs and recommending a suite of changes to improve the Crown-Māori institutional relationship that was failing Māori, one of whi…
Date: 1988 Period: 1972-1989 -
State Sector Act
The State Sector Act 1988 was part of a suite of reforms intended to shift the focus of NZ’s social welfare policy from inputs to outputs and outcomes (social investment).[i] The Act made chief executives of government agencies responsible for delivering s…
Date: 1988 Period: 1972-1989 -
The Mason Report
The Committee of Inquiry into Procedures used in Certain Psychiatric Hospitals in Relation to Admission, Discharge or Release on Leave of Certain Classes of Patients, investigated the treatment of patients who had a crossover with the justice system (parti…
Date: 1988 Period: 1972-1989 -
Treaty of Waitangi Act (State Enterprises)
This Act enabled the Waitangi Tribunal to direct the government to transfer certain state-owned-enterprise assets to iwi as part of claim settlements.[i]
Date: 1988 Period: 1972-1989 -
Children, Young Persons, and Their Families Act 1989 (Oranga Tamariki Act)
Formally recognised the ‘mixed economy’ of child welfare that had operated informally since the 19th century (government agencies, families, and communities).[i] The Act incorporated the Treaty and came out of recommendations from Rangihau’s 1986 report to…
Date: 1989 Period: 1972-1989 -
Department of Māori Affairs abolished
The Department of Maori Affairs was replaced by the Iwi Transition Agency (Te Tira Ahu Iwi), headed by Wira Gardiner. Also established a new policy-focused ministry: Manatū Māori or Ministry of Māori Affairs, which began operations in July 1989.[i] Tasked…
Date: 1989 Period: 1972-1989 -
Education Act
Section 155 provided for the Minister of Education to designate a state school as a Kura Kaupapa by notice in the New Zealand Gazette.
Date: 1989 Period: 1972-1989 -
School Trustees Act
Made it mandatory for all schools at all levels to include Treaty of Waitangi protocols within their charters.[i]
Date: 1989 Period: 1972-1989 -
National Māori Congress established
An iwi-wide response to changes within te ao Māori and Māori–Crown relations.[i]
Date: 1990 Period: 1990-current
Footnotes
- [i] go to main content ‘The first Māori census was attempted in 1857–58’. Atholl Anderson, Judith Binney, Aroha Harris, Tangata Whenua: An Illustrated History, Bridget Williams Books, Wellington, 2014, p. 246. Earlier censuses were taken during the 1840s, however these were particular to regions and settlements and from there estimates were made by missionaries and colonists as to what the national population level might have been. Salmond and other prominent authors are sceptical of these figures and believe the numbers were greater. A census of Māori was attempted in 1867 but warfare prevented its completion. Tangata Whenua, Appendix One, p. 490.
- [ii] go to main content Cited in Margaret Tennant, Past Judgement: Social Policy in New Zealand History, co-edited with Bronwyn Dalley, 2004, p. 17.; ‘The April report: report of the Royal Commission on Social Policy’, Volume 1: New Zealand Today, New Zealand Royal Commission on Social Policy, Wellington, 1988, pp. 4–5.
- [iii] go to main content Tennant, 2004, p. 41.
- [iv] go to main content For more detailed information see the following link: https://teara.govt.nz/en/new-zealand-wars
- [v] go to main content For more information see: Atholl Anderson, Judith Binney, Aroha Harris, Tangata Whenua: An Illustrated History, Bridget Williams Books, Wellington, 2014, pp. 256–301, and https://teara.govt.nz/en/new-zealand-wars
- [vi] go to main content Tangata Whenua, pp.322-3.