Chronology for 1972-1989
(Re)Claiming Māori welfare
From the 1970s, iwi Māori faced an unemployment crisis. ‘Between 1976 and 1981, rates of Māori unemployment increased dramatically. In 1981, Māori comprised almost a quarter (24.2 percent) of the total unemployed, a figure that represented 14.1 percent of the Māori workforce, compared to 3.7 percent of the non-Māori workforce. The unemployment crisis worsened for Māori throughout the 1980s as Māori suffered a job-loss rate of 15.1 percent between 1988 and 1991, compared to the Pākehā rate of 3.1 percent for the same period. This became one contributing factor for the return of many iwi Māori to their rural homelands. In 1988, however, researchers described a ‘Māori rural housing crisis due to decades of neglect by housing authorities’.[i] go to footnote
In 1984, 46.5 percent of all offenders under 15 were Māori boys.[ii] go to footnote Of complaints coming to the attention of the children's courts, 44.1 percent were for ‘children beyond control’, nearly half of whom were Māori (45.5 percent), and 73 percent of the total were dealt with by committing the child to the care of the Department of Social Welfare.[iii] go to footnote
Government policy
From the 1970s to the early 1990s, the growing cost of providing welfare services and a new philosophy of ‘user-pays’ called into question the continued viability of extensive welfare support and started the castigation of ‘welfare dependency’.[iv] go to footnote The context for the 1980s through to the 1990s was also the privatisation of state assets such as lands and forestry. Consequently, the NZMC challenged the sale of state assets, giving rise to the legal definitions of Treaty of Waitangi principles that underpinned challenges to government policy.
From the 1980s, government departments faced more direct and assertive Māori challenges and struggled to appear responsive to Māori concerns. Social Welfare had to address the question of how to achieve departmental reform within a clear Treaty context and while meeting treaty obligations.
By the mid-1980s it was estimated that $75.4 million was being transferred annually from government departments to the voluntary social sector. Sixty-eight percent of this was pre-allocated to large organisations such as Plunket and IHC.[v] go to footnote
Māori claimed control over their future and wellbeing and there was much organising in local Māori communities, rural and urban. Hoani Waititi marae opened in west Auckland and Pipitea Marae opened in Wellington. Te Whare Wānanga o Raukawa opened at Ōtaki, the first kōhanga reo opened at Wainuiomata, following Hui Whakatauira. Tatai Hono marae became a base for the Waitangi Action Committee (WAC) and Bastion Point activists, and a rallying stage for anti-Springbok tour protests.
Māori activism across the spectrum of te ao Māori continued with both conservative and high-profile protests fuelled by continuing discontent about racism, the loss of land, language, cultural identity, rangatiratanga and Treaty of Waitangi status. A Māori Language petition, 30,000 signatures strong, was delivered to Parliament in 1972. The 1975 Māori Land March led by Te Roopu Matakite o Aotearoa ‘demanded that the statute books be cleared of any legislation that could encroach on Māori land, and that patronising government interference in Māori land cease’.
In 1977 and 1978 there were land occupations at Takaparawhāu (Bastion Point) and Raglan Golf Course. By the late 1970s, WAC denounced Waitangi Day commemorations as tokenistic and the day became the focus of annual hikoi protests to Waitangi. In 1979, He Taua confronted University of Auckland engineering students practising a mock haka ‘culminating in eleven arrests, charges of rioting – and the end of the engineering students’ mock haka’.[vi] go to footnote
The Māori Women’s Movement was led by a new generation of women activists agitating around issues of race and gender. Many women campaigned about the Treaty, te reo and a range of social issues such as health and education – on both national and regional stages. All ‘gave expression to notions of mana wāhine’.[vii] go to footnote
Chronology events
Displaying 261 - 270 of 270 events.
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Covid lockdowns
The first Covid lockdown was March to May 2020. The Alert system was introduced and New Zealand entered various Alert phases throughout 2020 to December 2021, when the Covid Protection Framework was introduced. Early on, many Māori communities established …
Date: 2020 Period: 1990-current -
COVID pandemic measures
The first COVID lockdown was March to May 2020. The Alert Levels system was introduced and NZ entered various phases throughout 2020 to December 2021, when the COVID Protection Framework was introduced. Early on, many Māori communities established their ow…
Date: 2020 Period: 1990-current -
Homelessness Action Plan released
In February 2020, the government released the Aotearoa/New Zealand Homelessness Action Plan. It set out an overarching framework for communities, Māori, Iwi, providers, and government agencies to work together to prevent and reduce homelessness.[i]
Date: 2020 Period: 1990-current -
Mana Orite Relationship Agreement signed
In response to a Māori call for reform of the justice system, the Mana Orite Agreement was developed as a partnership response to creating ‘a future that benefits both Māori and all New Zealanders by transforming the justice system whereby Māori are no lon…
Date: 2020 Period: 1990-current -
Public Service Act replaces State Sector Act
Key features of the new Act are that it: provides a more flexible set of options for how the public service can organise itself to better respond to specific priorities; allows public servants to move between agencies more easily; clearly establishes the …
Date: 2020 Period: 1990-current -
Tamariki Māori in state care
In August 2020, the-Minister for Children Tracey Martin announced that Cabinet would partially repeal the subsequent child provisions introduced in 2016.[i]
Date: 2020 Period: 1990-current -
Oranga Tamariki Urgent Inquiry report released
Waitangi Tribunal releases report: He Paharakeke He Rito Whakakikinga Wharuarua – Oranga Tamariki Urgent Inquiry report. At the heart of this claim was the issue ‘that policies and practices inconsistent with te Tiriti o Waitangi / the Treaty of Waitangi……
Date: 2021 Period: 1990-current -
Release of Covid-related Māori health data
High Court ruled that the Ministry of Health reconsider its decision not to release Māori data to Te Pou Matakana for their use in their COVID-19 health response These rulings focused on whether the Privacy Act and the Health Information Privacy Code cont…
Date: 2021 Period: 1990-current -
Social workers registration
It became mandatory that all people practising as social workers needed to be registered with the Social Workers Registration Board. [i]
Date: 2021 Period: 1990-current -
Whaikaha established
Whaikaha [Ministry of Disabled People] was established in partnership with the community and Māori to support disabled people and whānau who are facing barriers to achieve ordinary life outcomes.[i]
Date: 2022 Period: 1990-current
Footnotes
- [i] go to main content Panguru and the City, p. 234.
- [ii] go to main content 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, p. 161.
- [iii] go to main content April report, vol. 1, p. 162.
- [iv] go to main content Bronwyn Dalley, Family Matters, Wellington, 1998, p. 261.
- [v] go to main content Margaret Tennant, Past Judgement: Social Policy in New Zealand History, co-edited with Bronwyn Dalley, 2004, p. 53.
- [vi] go to main content Atholl Anderson, Judith Binney, Aroha Harris, Tangata Whenua: An Illustrated History, Bridget Williams Books, Wellington, 2014, p. 423.
- [vii] go to main content Tangata Whenua, pp. 416–423.