Christopher Luxon has announced National won't support ACT's call for a referendum on co-governance with Māori - for now at least.
He says that's because the issue itself needs to be defined further by the Government.
"We're not in any place to have a referendum right now because the bottom line is we're not clear what we're talking about with respect to co-governance," he said.
ACT leader David Seymour responded, suggesting a referendum would allow such a conversation to take place.
Seymour reiterated the referendum remains a bottom line for ACT in any future coalition arrangement with National.
"It's a bottom line for us. There'll be things that the National Party wants and things that we want," Seymour said.
Luxon says there are some members of the public who are still unsure what co-governance means.
"It is going to drive division - it's a Government's responsibility to say exactly what it is and what it isn't, and how it works in practice," he said.
Māori Crown Relations Minister, Kelvin Davis, agrees the Government could do more to better inform the public.
"Obviously there'll be sectors of our society who don't know a lot about co-governance and the saying is ignorance breeds fear and hatred," Davis said.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said co-governance arrangements have been in place for some years and implemented through successive Governments.
"We are very clear on where its being used. I think some political parties are trying to turn it into something it's not," she said.
Others agree there is no need for a conversation as suggested by ACT.
Jacinta Ruru was one of the co-authors of the He Puapua report which looked at ways co-governance could be implemented.
The report was an attempt to put forward options on how New Zealand could implement its commitment under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).
It was a commitment made under the previous National Government in 2010.
"For the last 40 years or more we've had a Waitangi Tribunal as an expert body in this country building up a whole body of knowledge of why it is important to have co-governance and what that could look like as a country," Ruru said.
Luxon argues the way co-governance is being implemented has changed in recent years.
"I have concerns about co-governance as it moves from management of local natural resources into the delivery of public services," he said.
National it would seem is therefore happy to have Māori help manage rivers and waterways, but not so much on water services as suggested through the current Three Waters review.
National has also reiterated its promise to repeal the new Māori Health Authority.
"The Māori Health Authority is creating a bureaucracy that actually won't lead to better outcomes," Luxon said.
Ardern rejects that: "Health outcomes for Māori are worse in this country, Māori die younger in this country. I think we all acknowledge that the way we've been operating in our health system hasn't been serving Māori well. We need to do something different about that."
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