Source: New Zealand Government
Minister for Māori Crown Relations: Te Arawhiti Kelvin Davis will give the keynote opening address at the 2023 Australia and New Zealand School of Government (ANZSOG) First Peoples conference in Brisbane tomorrow.
Attending alongside Minister for Indigenous Australians, Linda Burney, Minister Davis will share his perspective on the current state of Māori-Crown relations and what the future of this relationship may look like.
The conference will focus specifically on both the Australian National Agreement on Closing the Gap commitments and the 2020 New Zealand Public Service Act, which clearly sets out the responsibility of the public service in supporting the Crown’s relationship with Māori under the Treaty of Waitangi.
“Since forming the Government in 2017 we have been committed to strengthening the Māori-Crown relationship and working towards a more equitable public service,” Kelvin Davis said.
“For almost 200 years Māori have almost exclusively been asked to walk across the bridge to the Pākehā world and I have been really pleased to see our public service leaders take up the challenge on both themselves and their agencies to cross the other way.”
The conference will be attended by public sector leaders, academics, Indigenous and community organisations.
“Australia is at an exciting part of its history, beginning to have conversations about how the country wants the relationship between the Crown and Indigenous Australians to look,” Kelvin Davis said.
“The situations in New Zealand and Australia are unique, but I am excited to share both our successes, and challenges, in this space.”
Minister Davis will also travel to Sydney to meet with various portfolio stakeholders, with a focus on youth justice and child protection.
