NZEI Te Riu Roa has called on the Crown to confirm within 20 working days of the new Government being sworn in that it will apologise to Māori and restore school boards’ Te Tiriti o Waitangi obligations.
Regardless of the outcome of the 7 November General Election, NZEI Te Riu Roa President Ripeka Lessels and National Secretary Stephanie Mills said the country’s largest education union was ready to help the Crown in remedying its treaty breaches.
“The election does not change the Crown’s obligation: the Tribunal’s findings are made against the Crown, and the onus remains on it to act, whoever forms the next government,” they said in a letter to the Education Minister and other parties’ education spokespersons.
Evidence from Mrs Lessels and other union members was central to the Tribunal’s findings released on 30 October. In the report – the third since launching its urgent inquiry in April – the Tribunal called on the Luxon Government to formally apologise and restore school boards’ Te Tiriti obligations under Section 127 of the Education and Training Act.
The Tribunal found the Minister of Education acted “opportunistically” on "flimsy” evidence, rushing the changes through Parliament under urgency late last year to avoid public scrutiny.
It concluded the decision blindsided Māori, breached Te Tiriti principles of good government, partnership, active protection, and equity, and caused direct prejudice to Māori.