Waititi interrupted Collins as she put questions to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern about
He Puapua, a Government report commissioned in 2019 that sets out a roadmap to co-governance between the Crown and MÄori by 2040.Â
Collins has expressed her concern that the Government is trying to implement separatism by stealth , pointing to plans for a MÄori Health Authority and MÄori wards in local councils, both of which are recommended in the report.Â
Paradoxically, the
He Puapua report was commissioned as a response to former Prime Minister John Key - Collins old boss - signing New Zealand up in 2010 to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People.Â
House Speaker Trevor Mallard ruled the matter was well outside the Prime Minister s responsibilities.
As Collins resumed her line of questioning about separate sovereignty , Waititi interrupted her and asked the Speaker to step in. Collins could be heard scoffing as she was forced to sit down again. Mr Speaker, I seek your guidance and advice, Waititi said. Over the past two weeks there has been racist propaganda and rhetoric towards tangata whenua. That not only is insulting to tangata whenua, but diminishes the mana of this House.
The Speaker said he didn t feel the dialogue was bad enough to intervene.
Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield was then briefed and COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins was told ahead of a 1pm press conference that day. But the Government didn t tell the public until six days later despite being repeatedly questioned about it by media and MPs.
The fact the border worker hadn t been tested for five months wasn t revealed to the public until April 14, when Carolyn Tremain, chief executive of the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), told a parliamentary committee.
The Government is coming under fire for sitting on the information for six days, but Ardern says the delay was necessary due to a mismatch in what the testing data showed and what the border worker had told them.
Despite allegations of racism in police and racial profiling, Collins saw no implications with allowing police to conduct warrantless searches. I think allegations are very easy to make, particularly when the word systemic is added to it. The fact is, is that it s important that we understand that the people who are often the victims of this violence are often Māori.
Collins was asked if there is systemic racism in police. No, absolutely not, she said. I was the Minister of Police for four years. In that time, I saw police go absolutely out of their way to represent all New Zealanders and I believe that any accusation that police are systemically racist is frankly wrong and I will not ever agree with that unless I saw it myself.