Employment Minister Willie Jackson says a conversation is needed around pulling down statues.
The push to remove colonial monuments and statues is gathering momentum in New Zealand amid the Black Lives Matter movement. Last week, Hamilton City Council removed a statue of a British naval captain involved in the Battle of Gate Pā.
"The statues represent all the worst things in terms of colonisation. They represent the oppression of our people. They represent racism, and our story is not being told," Mr Jackson said last night.
"We want iwi and councils to talk about this.
"It's not just about pulling down the statues. It's about having the conversation," the Labour MP told TVNZ1's Q+A.
"The young Willie Jackson would have probably gone and knocked all the heads off, but now I'm a responsible minister. We want to engage in the process.
"We want the full history to be told, not just celebrating colonisers who created mayhem and havoc amongst our people.
"There has to be a mature conversation. We've got to celebrate some of our people."
Mr Jackson also spoke about the ending of the controversial armed response team trial, saying he personally would welcome an apology by new Police Commissioner Andrew Coster .
"You've heard the anger in the community," Mr Jackson said.
On if the trial should have begun in the first place, Mr Jackson, co-chair of Labour's Māori caucus, said "we don't think so".
"We don't want to see our communities harmed."
He said police should communicate with Māori leadership.
Mr Jackson said there was systemic racism in the police force.
His Labour colleague, Police Minister Stuart Nash, said earlier this month there was unconscious bias in the police force - but he did not believe there is institutional racism within the force.
Mr Jackson said the he did not think members of the Māori caucus were in doubt there is systemic racism in the police.
"We're a caucus who know from our history that there has been systemic racism, institutional racism, but we also know the police are making a strong effort of turning things around."
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