Chronology for 1900-1937
On the fringes of mono-cultural welfare
Most Māori lived in rural enclaves of Aotearoa New Zealand and practiced customary ways of living and caring for whānau. However, assimilationist policies and a capitalist economic framework were beginning to impact, especially with the migration of adults in search of paid work. By 1920, Māori land holdings had decreased to 8% of total New Zealand lands and the population had increased from 56,987 in 1921 to 82,326 in 1936.[i] go to footnote Factors contributing to this significant population growth, which continued beyond the 1920s, were ‘falls in infant and child mortality, especially but not exclusively from the end of the 19th century to 1976’, ‘reductions in mortality at older ages’, and ‘the high relative fertility of Māori women’.[ii] go to footnote While Māori women and children were at the forefront of the recovery of te ao Māori, they were also targets of state messaging about their ‘proper’ family roles and places in New Zealand society.
Western concepts of child welfare were introduced legislatively in the early 20th century (whāngai restrictions to whenua) and enforced increasingly throughout the century as Māori children began to enter the child juvenile system. Access to pensions and benefits are either denied or paid at a lower rate than for Pākehā.
Iwi Māori continued to fight for hapū autonomy and control over their own welfare. Wāhine Māori, such as Whina Cooper and Te Puea Hērangi, were among Māori leaders pushing for tikanga-based solutions for the welbeing of their people and Māori nationwide.[iii] go to footnote
Chronology events
Displaying 241 - 250 of 270 events.
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Te Kupenga released
Statistics NZ released Te Kupenga, the Māori Social Survey - the first ever nationally representative survey of Māori and whānau wellbeing. The last Te Kupenga survey took place in 2018.[i]
Date: 2013 Period: 1990-current -
Māori Housing Strategy launched
The Māori Housing Strategy – He Whare Āhuru He Oranga Tāngata reflected the government’s desire for a long-term strategy to improve Māori housing and respond to the housing aspirations of whānau, hapū and iwi.[i]
Date: 2014 Period: 1990-current -
Expert Advisory Panel review
In April 2015, the Minister for Social Development, Anne Tolley, established an expert advisory panel to review the Child, Youth and Family Agency (CYF) and the care and protection system, and to determine how the lives of vulnerable children in New Zealan…
Date: 2015 Period: 1990-current -
Māori Data Sovereignty Network established
An inaugural meeting on Māori Data Sovereignty was held at Hopuhopu on 19 October 2015 where the formation of Te Mana Raraunga as a Māori Data Sovereignty Network was accepted by the participants and the contents of the charter discussed. The purpose was t…
Date: 2015 Period: 1990-current -
Social Investment Agency
In a series of speeches in 2015, the Minister of Finance, Bill English, and his Associate Minister, Paula Bennett, reiterated that the government was applying a ‘social investment’ approach to welfare. The Social Investment Unit of the State Services Commi…
Date: 2015 Period: 1990-current -
The Vulnerable Children’s Act
The Vulnerable Children’s Act and the Vulnerable Children (Requirements for Safety Checks of Children’s Workers) Regulations 2015 introduced new requirements for children’s worker safety checking. State services and organisations providing government-funde…
Date: 2015 Period: 1990-current -
Oranga Tamariki Act amendments
The Children, Young Persons, and Their Families (Vulnerable Children) Amendment Act introduced ‘Subsequent child’ provisions to the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989, as part of a ‘package of reforms to address child abuse and neglect’. The new provisions, under se…
Date: 2016 Period: 1990-current -
Mana Tamaiti principles
Introduction of Mana Tamaiti principles to Oranga Tamariki – Ministry for Children through the Children, Young Persons, and Their Families (Oranga Tamariki) Legislation Act.[i] A Māori Design Group was established alongside Oranga Tamariki as an external …
Date: 2017 Period: 1990-current -
Reports of concern in relation to Māori children
Māori children made up the greatest proportion of Oranga Tamariki care and protection notifications requiring further action.[i] Māori made up 55% of care and protection notices (Reports of Concern) requiring further action, compared with ‘other ethnicity…
Date: 2017 Period: 1990-current -
Abuse in Care Royal Commission
The Government announced the establishment of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State Care (later extended to include Faith-based Institutions). The Royal Commission’s contextual hearing, its first substantive public hearing, was hel…
Date: 2018 Period: 1990-current
Footnotes
- [i] go to main content The New Zealand Official Year Book 1945
- [ii] go to main content Atholl Anderson, Judith Binney, Aroha Harris, Tangata Whenua: An Illustrated History, Bridget Williams Books, Wellington, 2014, p. 491.
- [iii] go to main content Hērangi, Te Kirihaehae Te Puea – Dictionary of New Zealand Biography – Te Ara; Cooper, Whina – Dictionary of New Zealand Biography – Te Ara.