Record number of Maori in cabinet: ‘We should be proud of that’ – PM Jacinda Ardern

New Zealand has a historically high number of Maori ministers sitting around the cabinet table, but there is still “much more work to be done.”

That’s according to Kelvin Davis, who leads a team of five Maori ministers within the Cabinet, as well as two outside the Cabinet and an undersecretary.

Maori ministers are now also responsible for a number of key portfolios, including childhood, Maori education, Maori development, Maori health, conservation, foreign affairs, fisheries, defense, and others.

“We are very happy with the level of representation that we have now,” Davis said.
“We are also very happy with the role that we will play in Māoridom.”

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said her cabinet has both merit and talent, which also happens to be incredibly diverse.

“I think it is an important point to highlight: these are people who have been promoted for what they contribute to this cabinet.”

She said they also reflect the New Zealand that chose them.
The five new Maori ministers mean that Maori make up 25% of the cabinet.
“I think as a country we should be proud of that,” Ardern said.

Davis said the five Maori ministers around the cabinet table are probably the highest proportion in New Zealand history.

“Māoridom has been waiting for representation for 160 years; this Government has Māoridom’s interest at its heart.”

Davis is the Minister for Children, Corrections and Relations to the Maori Crown and is third in the Cabinet ranking.

The Maori he joins are:

• Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nanaia Mahuta

• Minister of Defense Peeni Henare

• Maori Development Minister Willie Jackson

• Minister of Conservation Kiri Allan

Maori ministers outside the cabinet include Customs Minister Meka Whaitiri and Green Party co-leader, and Minister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence, Marama Davidson.

Rino Tirikatene is the parliamentary undersecretary of the Minister of Oceans and Fisheries.

“We are very happy with the level of representation that we have now,” Davis said.

But he said: “We have a lot of work to do in the next three years.”

“The work we will do together as a team for our people.”

Political commentator Morgan Godfrey said there is a “delightful irony” in which Mahuta, a high-ranking member of Kingitanga, the 19th century resistance movement to the Crown, is now in charge of the foreign policy of that same Crown.

“There is another bit of irony in the appointment of Peeni Henare as defense minister. Henare is a member of the Kingitanga advisory council, the same council that would have been in charge of defense against the Crown in the 19th century,” he said.

“It is a sign of how far we have come as a country.”

(With reports from Michael Neilson)