Maori Council to be phased out?
PA Wellington The Maori Council may be phased out in favour of Maori tribal and regional authorities, says the council chairman, Sir Graham Latimer. As tribal and regional authorities grew stronger, the need for the council would diminish. In the immediate future the council would be necessary because economic growth was slow and many authorities still had a long way to go to find their feet, said Sir Graham. But he envisaged the council would eventually be phased out to allow tribal and regional groups to continue the drive for Maori economic and social development. “If that is the desire of the people, that is what it has got to be,” Sir Graham said. If the council was dissolved it would mean it had fulfilled its function of trying to assist Maori independence. Over the last few years responsibility and activities of many Maori tribal and regional authorities have increased. New authorities and administration of tribal and regionally based schemes such as Maori Access and Mana Enterprises have
been established. The Maori Council believed the Government could no longer be relied upon to spearhead Maori development and was calling a meeting of all leading Maori authorities to discuss the issue. Sir Graham said yesterday that the meeting was planned to take place at Ngaruawahia over Anzac week-end and that between 300 and 1000 people were expected to attend. “The sad experience of the Maori loans affair has made us realise that Maoridom cannot sit back and wait for any Government or Maori Affairs Department to do what needs to be done,” Sir Graham said. “We as people must pull together quickly and take effective initiatives. For whatever reason, the present Minister of Maori Affairs (Mr Wetere) and his departmental advisers are effectively cocooned. “But in any case even if they were not, Maori authorities of every type should combine to take hold of the leadership reins. “Let Government and their departments follow our initiatives — not the other way around.”
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Press, 10 March 1987, Page 5
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335Maori Council to be phased out? Press, 10 March 1987, Page 5
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