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 211 - 220 of 270 events.
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Te Whānau o Waipareira report released
Report released by the Waitangi Tribunal. The Waipareira Trust claimed it had been discriminated against by the Community Funding Agency, a unit of the Department of Social Welfare, in funding and policy because it was not an iwi organisation. The Tribuna…
Date: 1998 Period: 1990-current -
Towards a Code of Social and Family Responsibility
The proposed code outlined National/New Zealand First conservative values perspectives. Intended to garner consensus on family responsibilities, although targeted at beneficiaries.[i] Ultimately abandoned.
Date: 1998 Period: 1990-current -
Work and Income NZ established
Income Support Service and Employment Services merged to become Work and Income New Zealand (WINZ).[i]
Date: 1998 Period: 1990-current -
Department of Child, Youth and Family Services established
Children, Young Persons and their Families Agency was established through the merger of the New Zealand Children and Young Persons Service and the New Zealand Community Funding Agency. Later in the year, it became the stand-alone Department of Child, Youth…
Date: 1999 Period: 1990-current -
Fifth Labour Government
The fifth Labour Government policy of Closing the Gaps/Reducing Inequalities.[i] had goals of decreasing poverty, improving social inclusion, planning and individual development rather than punitive approaches. Job Seeker agreements between case managers …
Date: 1999 Period: 1990-current -
Māori socio-economic update
MSD noted a progressively worse overrepresentation of Māori children and young people in the system. ‘In 2001, Māori made up 45 percent of the total client group. Fifty-five percent of children in care and 48 percent of those in youth justice were Māori.' …
Date: 2000 Period: 1990-current -
Lake Alice apology
Government apology and compensation to approximately 180 former patients of the Lake Alice Hospital Child and Adolescent Unit (1972–1978) after a private inquiry into mistreatment in the Unit.[i]
Date: 2001 Period: 1990-current -
Ministry of Social Development established
Amalgamation of the Ministry of Social Policy and the Department of Work and Income.[i]
Date: 2001 Period: 1990-current -
Nga Pae o Te Maramatanga established
Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga (NPM) is New Zealand's Māori Centre of Research Excellence (CoRE) funded by the Tertiary Education Commission and hosted by The University of Auckland. The centre's research is driven by its vision of creating the foundations for f…
Date: 2002 Period: 1990-current -
Towards a Māori Statistics Framework released
Statistics NZ released the discussion document Towards a Māori Statistics Framework. Led by Māori Policy Manager and Statistician Whetumarama Wereta and informed by Statistics NZ’s Māori Reference Group, the paper called for Māori statistics in the offici…
Date: 2002 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.