Nicola Willis defends Govt on Māori issues

Nicola Willis has defended the fledgling Government on Māori issues, saying it should be judged on its results.

National's deputy leader, Willis is the most senior member of the party in the country today, with leader Christopher Luxon in Australia attending his daughter's graduation. Deputy prime minister and New Zealand First leader Winston Peters will serve as acting prime minister in Luxon's absence.

Asked about the inclusion of the Government's position on bonuses for public sector staff with te reo or tikanga Māori expertise in a new Treaty of Waitangi claim, Willis said she hoped there hadn't been a "misunderstanding about what the Government's views on that issue are".

It follows Willis telling RNZ on December 6 she was seeking advice on how to stop the bonuses - which have been in place since the 1980s - being negotiated in the future.

She told RNZ: "While we would not have initiated the bonuses ourselves and while we do not support them, we are left with little choice but to implement them given they are contained in binding collective agreements."

Willis later that day softened the comments, saying she only opposed the bonuses where they were "not relevant".

Today, Willis told reporters the Government wanted to uphold all employment clauses in existing collective agreements.

"There is no intention to take any of that back, despite the rhetoric from some."

She said the Government also wanted to ensure that people with skills or experience required for roles that those attributes were reflected in their base remuneration.

"We absolutely appreciate that having skill in te reo Māori, knowledge of tikanga Māori, having experience of te ao Māori, are really important for many roles in the public service and we wish to see people with those skills, experience and knowledge continue to perform roles in the public service that are well remunerated."

She said the Government "continue[d] to celebrate te reo Māori".

"It is one of New Zealand's official languages. We absolutely welcome people using te reo Māori, it being a feature of public life and we will continue to support that."

Asked if she was surprised at the backlash to the Government's approach to te reo Māori and Māori issues, Willis said she encouraged debate.

"All we can do is keep being clear with New Zealanders that we intend to be a Government that delivers for Māori and non-Māori. That we are absolutely focused on better results.

"We want schools that deliver better for Māori children, we want health services that deliver better for Māori people, we want to further Treaty of Waitangi settlements to redress some of the wrongs that the Crown has done in the past. We remain committed to Māori - to Māori culture, to delivery for Māori people.

"By our results, we can be judged."

Regarding a protest at Te Papa yesterday where a display of the English version of the Treaty of Waitangi was defaced, Willis said "protest is one thing, but defacing public property is another".

"Those protesters went too far."

The protesters yesterday said the reason for their protest was because the English version misled visitors into thinking the te reo Māori version said the same thing, when it did not.

Willis said the English text was "an artefact of our history".

"I don't think we do well to silence parts of our history. Debating history involves acknowledging that there is an English text of te Tiriti."

Yesterday, Luxon also dismissed whether the Government's policies had any role in the Te Papa protest.

Willis was also pressed on deputy prime minister Winston Peters' incorrect statements in the House last week that "the last few Moriori died in 1936".

She said the statement was a matter for Peters, and when asked her view on whether the group had died out, she said she didn't "have a particular historic [sic] opinion on that matter", adding she was not an expert on the topic.

"I can't know what was in his [Peters'] mind."

Labour leader Chris Hipkins said the Te Papa protest showed "tensions" were heightened.

"I do think that we need to make sure that we continue to preserve our history, warts and all. That means the debate around the English version of te Treaty versus the te reo version of te Treaty is part of our history and so we do need to continue to acknowledge that."

He said for much of the documents' history the two Treaty partners - tangata whenua and the Crown - were "working [off] a different version of what the Treaty meant".

"That is actually part of our history. That's different to how we then move forward.

"We need to make sure that we're creating space to have those ongoing conversations."

He said any display of the English version of the document also needed to accompanied by an acknowledgement that the two versions said different things.

Hipkins said he was concerned the Government could be the "first" to take New Zealand "backwards" with the relationship between the Crown and Māori.

"Whilst the National Party in the past have campaigned on what you could call an 'anti-Māori' platform, they've never tried to implement one in government.

"I suspect [backlash] will grow and that is a concern because I don't think it's going to move New Zealand forward.

"There is a responsibility on all political leaders to find a way forward that actually unites people."

He said the Labour Party would continue to try to "bring New Zealanders together".