7. Question No. 7—Māori DevelopmentHon TODD McCLAY (National—Rotorua) to the Minister for Māori DevelopmentQuestion No. 7—Māori Development7. Hon TODD McCLAY (National—Rotorua) to the Minister for Māori Development: What influence if any did the He Puapua report have on the contents of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: Next Steps for a Declaration Plan – lodging Cabinet paper and draft talking points briefing paper that he received last month?Hon WILLIE JACKSON (Minister for Māori Development): The next steps to develop a national declaration plan need to be considered by Cabinet. I'm in the process of submitting my proposals for the next steps. To that end I received the draft Cabinet paper on 7 April 2021 outlining proposed next steps. Part of the draft Cabinet paper includes a summary of He Puapua. He Puapua is one of several elements that fed into the draft Cabinet paper alongside the guidance provided by the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples on the development of a declaration plan and Cabinet-agreed guidelines on Māori Crown engagement.Hon Todd McClay: Which specific Ministers has he consulted with regarding the draft Cabinet paper on the implementation plan for a declaration on the rights of indigenous people?Hon WILLIE JACKSON: That's a process that I'm engaging in now. I haven't consulted with any Ministers at this stage—it's a paper that will be going around all Cabinet Ministers—other than speaking with the Prime Minister.Hon Todd McClay: What specific issues did he discuss in relation to the Cabinet paper on indigenous people in his recent meetings with the declaration working group and Independent Monitoring Mechanism group for He Puapua and the declaration?Hon WILLIE JACKSON: The independent group who put together He Puapua gave me an overview of their work. They put out some of their aspirations they asked questions about when recommendations would be going to Cabinet and we had a very good kōrero.Shanan Halbert: What should be guiding the development of a declaration plan?Hon WILLIE JACKSON: The Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples visited Aotearoa in April 2019 and provided some helpful guidelines and emphasised the point that any declaration plan should be developed in partnership with Māori. This aligns with Cabinet-agreed guidelines on Māori Crown engagement.Shanan Halbert: What is the approach outlined in He Puapua for developing a declaration plan?Hon WILLIE JACKSON: Let me be clear that He Puapua is not the draft national declaration plan that the National Party signed up to. The report recommended a two-step engagement process robust monitoring over any plan that was to be developed and ministerial oversight and arrangements for partnership with Māori on the development of the plan. Decisions on the next steps for the development of a national declaration plan including on targeted and public engagement are currently under consideration.Hon Todd McClay: Do any of the mentioned documents or his meetings discuss the possibility of creating separate Māori processes and veto powers over public policy like the recently announced Māori Health Authority—for instance over the Resource Management Act or water allocation?Hon WILLIE JACKSON: There are a number of different views that were put at the meeting that I had with the independent group. That was an important meeting where different views were exchanged and if you find the document you will see some of the aspirations of that group. I emphasise though that that is an independent group; that is not Government policy and they have started a conversation that the National Party started in 2010.Hon Todd McClay: Why does he believe implementing recommendations made in the He Puapua report like powers of veto over public policy will lead to fair and equitable outcomes for all New Zealanders?Hon WILLIE JACKSON: As I said He Puapua is a starting document. It's starting the conversation. We want all New Zealanders to participate in that conversation. There are three areas: He Puapua the plan and the declaration. The National Party have forgotten that they have signed up to this declaration. In 2014 they talked about a plan then they forgot the plan. The National Party have also forgotten that they agree with probably 85 percent of our views in terms of te ao Māori as Judith Collins has said many times. They support Whānau Ora they support the Treaty settlements process they support kōhanga reo and it's really disgraceful how they've been handling this subject.Hon Nanaia Mahuta: Can the Minister confirm that much of the content informing He Puapua is taken from the Treaty settlement process the Waitangi Tribunal and public discourse in relation to social and economic inequities relating to Māori outcomes?Hon WILLIE JACKSON: Absolutely. I can confirm that it's following all the lines in terms of the Treaty process that the National Party have signed up to. In fact this process complements the Treaty settlement process and the partnership that we should all want in this House.