MANA Party
Thursday 9th August
Tena koutou katoa.

Attached and below is the MANA Party’s scorecard measuring the Government’s three-year progress against the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Today marks the United Nation’s International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. This day is observed on the 9th of August each year to promote and protect the rights of Indigenous Peoples. New Zealand agreed to support the United Nation’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples on the 20th April 2010.

Attachment: MANA_Scorecard.pdf

Government’s 3 Year Scorecard
National-Māori Party-ACT-United Future

Measuring progress against the
United Nations Declaration On The Rights Of Indigenous Peoples
August 2012

Indigenous Peoples’ right to:

• An education in our own language and culture:
(Article 14)
Government has invested no new money to grow and develop Māori immersion education across the board, and enrolments in kōhanga, kura, and wānanga are declining as a result – but they will invest in setting up charter schools with unregistered teachers for Māori children in low decile communities, even though they have failed overseas. FAIL

• Participate in paid work:
(Article 17)
Government has failed to ensure Māori have access to jobs. Māori remain nearly three times as likely as Pākehā to be unemployed, and when in work, Māori earn significantly less than non-Māori – even when doing the same job. Official statistics show the income gap has widened since 2008. FAIL

• Participate in decision-making through our own representation:
(Article 18)
Government has opposed or failed to provide for Māori representation on key bodies and groups e.g. Auckland Council, and the Environmental Protection Authority (who approve applications for seabed mining and drilling). Instead, Māori advisory bodies provide advice which can be, and is, routinely ignored. FAIL

• Improved housing:
(Article 21)
In 2011, the Auditor-General found that the process for whānau to build on Māori land remains too difficult for most, and it’s very poorly funded. Of the limited funds allocated for Māori housing in 2012, some went to mainstream projects despite Māori being most at risk of being homeless. FAIL

• A high standard of health:
(Article 24)
Māori, and especially Māori children, are much more likely to contract infectious and respiratory diseases than non-Māori, and a 2012 study by Baker et al showed the situation is worsening – which should be unheard of in Aotearoa. Better incomes and housing for whānau are urgently needed to reverse this trend, but they’re reducing not improving. A third of Māori children live in poverty. FAIL

• Own, use and develop our lands and for States to recognise and protect this:
(Article 26)
Under the Foreshore and Seabed Act Mark II (the Marine and Costal Area Act 2011) no customary marine titles have been granted to Māori, so the confiscation of Māori foreshore and seabed land in 2004 remains and continues. FAIL

• Give consent to projects affecting our lands and resources, particularly water:
(Article 32)
Government pushed ahead with selling shares in state-owned power companies without the consent of Māori, and before Māori ownership interests in water have been determined and settled. Government has indicated they will legislate against Māori ownership in water. FAIL

FINAL ASSESSMENT: ZERO

ENDS

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