A Taranaki Maori language advocate has doubts about representation on the Government's new Maori language body.
Taranaki Maori language academic Dr Ruakere Hond. Photo: WESTERN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY AT TARANAKI
Minister of Maori Affairs Pita Sharples is establishing a pan-tribal electoral college, called Te Matawai, to govern the Maori Language Commission and the Maori Broadcasting Funding Agency.
Recent doctoral graduate Ruakere Hond, of Taranaki iwi, said he did not believe the new iwi body would be a good representation of Maori.
Dr Hond said the electoral college was based on a model more aligned to the electoral boundaries, which were not natural Maori groupings.
He said he had an issue with the way people would be selected, and that it would not guarantee Te Matawai would include the right mix of people to drive Maori language revitalisation forward.
