John Luke
[FYI request #21922 email]
Tēnā koe John Luke
Official Information Act request
Thank you for your information request dated 27 February 2023. You asked for the following
information:
“I noted,
https://nz.linkedin.com/in/kaylakingdonbebb
I was appointed by the Minister of Māori Development to the Technical Working Group as a government
expert member. As such, I contribute to the group independently of any particular government agency or
portfolio and instead represent the Crown as a whole.
The function of the Technical Working Group is to develop proposals towards the creation of a National Plan
of Action for Aotearoa New Zealand's implementation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous
People (UNDRIP). We work by consensus and delivered a comprehensive draft report to the Minister at the
end of November 2019.
May I ask how did you call for public nomination for this Technical Working Group position and on what
platform you have call for public nominations, e.g. IOD website. Also, how many applications you have
received from the public and how many you have received from other nominating agencies such as TPK.
What is the term of reference of this working group.”.
Background
Your request has been considered under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act). Prior to
responding to your request, I wish to provide you with some contextual information about the
work programme that your request relates to.
The origin of the broader work programme dates back to 13 September 2007, when the United
Nations General Assembly adopted the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples (the Declaration or UNDRIP), a non-binding document on the rights of
indigenous peoples. The Declaration covers a broad range of rights and freedoms including
the right to self-determination, culture and identity, and rights to education, economic
development, religion, customs, health and language.
In April 2010 the New Zealand government, in keeping with our nation’s long-standing
commitment to human rights and indigenous rights, became signatories to the Declaration.
Māori hold a special status as the tangata whenua of Aotearoa New Zealand, and indigenous
rights and culture are of profound importance to Aotearoa New Zealand and fundamental to
our identity as a nation.
In March 2019, the then Minister for Māori Development, Hon Nanaia Mahuta, announced
Cabinet’s decision that the Government would develop a plan of action or other measure on
New Zealand’s progress towards the objectives of the Declaration. Cabinet also invited
Minister Mahuta to appoint an independent technical working group (it is this working group
that your request relates to) to provide her with advice on:
-
the form and content of a Declaration plan, and
-
an engagement process with iwi, hapū, whānau Māori.
At Minister Mahuta’s direction, the relevant Cabinet paper and minute have been made
proactively available on Te Puni Kōkiri’s website:
https://tpk.govt.nz/en/mo-te-puni-kokiri/corporate-documents/cabinet-papers/all-cabinet-
papers/develop-plan-on-nz-progress-un
The Declaration Working Group (DWG) received secretariat support from Te Puni Kōkiri and
the Human Rights Commission, amounting to arranging travel and venues for meetings of the
DWG and meeting the group’s general administration requirements. The DWG provided its
report, He Puapua, to the then Minister for Māori Development on 1 November 2019.
The next step in the work programme was for the Minister to consider the report and report
back to Cabinet on progress with the development of a Declaration plan. However, further
work on a Declaration plan was put on hold in early 2020 as the Government focussed on a
response to the challenges posed by COVID-19.
Following the stabilisation of the initial response to COVID-19 matters, work on a Declaration
plan was reinitiated and I, having assumed the role of Minister for Māori Development agreed
to seek Cabinet agreement to a process for the development of a Declaration plan.
Developing a Declaration plan
On 1 July 2021, I made a public announcement outlining Government’s next steps in
developing a Declaration plan and during the announcement I described He Puapua as “a
starting point for discussion”. I also outlined the next steps of the process which include
targeted engagement with key iwi and significant Māori organisations, fol owed by a wider
public consultation on a draft Declaration plan.
I have also reiterated the Government’s firmly held position that the Declaration plan must
satisfy several fundamental requirements including:
-
being consistent with international law, and New Zealand law and policy,
-
protecting the rights of all citizens, and
-
safeguarding territorial integrity and political unity, as well as the responsibility of all
democratically elected governments to govern for the welfare of all their citizens.
If you would like to familiarise yourself with the details of what Government agreed to as the
next steps in developing a Declaration plan, you can access the relevant Cabinet paper and
the accompanying Cabinet minutes. At my direction, these papers have been proactively
released and can be found on Te Puni Kōkiri’s website at the following web address:
https://tpk.govt.nz/en/mo-te-puni-kokiri/corporate-documents/cabinet-papers/all-cabinet-
papers/next-steps-for-declaration-plan.
Targeted Engagement
On 22 April 2022, I directed Te Puni Kōkiri to proactively release the latest update to Cabinet
on feedback gathered from the targeted engagement process with iwi, hapū, whānau and
Māori organisations on their aspirations for the development of a Declaration plan. This
proactive release can be found on Te Puni Kōkiri’s website at the following address:
https://tpk.govt.nz/en/mo-te-puni-kokiri/corporate-documents/cabinet-papers/all-cabinet-
papers/united-nations-declaration-on-the-rights-of-indige My Response
The first part of your request seeks details regarding the public call for nominations for the
technical working group. I am refusing this part of your request in accordance with section 18e)
of the Act as the information you seek does not exist.
I consider that this part of your request is outside the scope of the Act, on the basis that to
provide an answer to you I am now required to create new information. That said, I believe
there is some public interest benefit in explaining why the information you seek does not exist.
The process to establish the technical working group, was designed to identify potential
technical experts capable of advising the Minister on the establishment of a Plan to fulfil New
Zealand’s obligations under the Declaration. As you might imagine this would require the
potential appointees to offer significant indigenous and human rights expertise, who preferably
will have expertise in working with the New Zealand Human Rights Commission and other
UNDRIP focussed bodies. Additionally, they would be required to have broad-based expertise
in working across diverse Māori communities. As you can imagine these are very exacting
requirements and there are probably no more than a handful of individuals who could meet
these exclusive criteria.
Aside from the fact that there is no requirement for carrying out a time-consuming, expensive
public call for nominations for convening a working group of technical experts, it would have
been a redundant and wasteful exercise given how few experts there are that meet the criteria.
I remain confident that the few suitable individuals who were appointable were already known
within the wider public sector. It may be of some assistance for you to refer to the response to
a Parliamentary Question I received on the matter:
https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/order-paper-questions/written-
questions/document/WQ_16446_2022/16446-2022-hon-paul-goldsmith-to-the-minister-for-
m%C4%81ori
Moving on to the second part of your request, which seeks the terms of reference (ToR) for
the technical working group. I have decided to release this information to you in full and I have
appended the ToR to this response.
I trust my reply satisfies your request.
You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of this response.
Information about how to make a complaint is available
at www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or
freephone 0800 802 602.
Nāku noa, nā
Hon Willie Jackson
Te Minita Whanaketanga Māori
