Whānau Ora founder Dame Tariana Turia. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Whānau Ora founder Dame Tariana Turia. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Contrary to appearances, Whānau Ora founder Dame Tariana Turia and Whānau Ora Minister Peeni Henare agree on quite a bit in the simmering dispute that has just publicly erupted over Whānau Ora.
They agree that the dispute over Whānau Ora is highly political.
She thinks the present Government has notembraced her vision of Whānau Ora because it was an initiative of Labour's arch-enemy, the Māori Party, which she also founded.
It is not hard to see why. The Government has treated many things that thrived under the previous Government as tainted, including its close relationship with the Iwi Leaders Forum.
It replaced the Whānau Ora oversight group which had included six nominated by the Iwi Chairs with its own reference group.
Henare thinks Turia's complaint to the Waitangi Tribunal is politically motivated and it's easy to see why he thinks that.
Four of the women leading the case for an urgent hearing are Māori Party former leader, Turia, Māori Party former president, Dame Naida Glavish, and two former Māori Party list candidates, Dame Iritana Tāwhiwhirangi and Lady Tureiti Moxon.
Add to that the fact that Turia on Monday cuttingly accused the Prime Minister of being "out of her depth" in dealing with the issue - which could make for a very awkward meeting at Rātana on Friday.
Add to that the fact that the chief executive of the Whānau Ora commissioning agency Te Pou Matakana is disaffected former Labour MP John Tamihere.
Whanau Ora Minister and Tamaki Makaurau MP Peeni Henare. Photo / Jason Oxenham
Add to that the fact that there is persistent rumour that Tamihere might stand in Tāmaki Makaurau, the seat held by Henare.
It is easy to see why this issue, whether or not being motivated by politics, is entangled by politics, past and present.
Former Whānau Ora Minister and former Māori Party co-leader Dame Tariana Turia. Photo / Mark Mitchell
The other point of agreement between the two sides, notwithstanding differences in how they would put it, is that this is about the control of Whānau Ora.
Whānau Ora is about helping families to take control of their lives, work directed by three Whānau Ora commissioning agencies under a model established when Turia was Whānau Ora Minister.
The legal action is about the largest Whānau Ora commissioning agency wanting to keep control of the concept, wanting to keep all of the funding that is dispensed under the Whānau Ora name, and wanting to keep the decision-making about what programmes or other work should be commissioned under it.
In the brief to the Waitangi Tribunal, they say the Government has "misappropriated" the Whānau Ora brand and they go further to say that the brand has been established as a piece of "Māori intellectual property". They say it is a matter of tino rangatiratanga.
Peeni Henare would not choose the same language but he defends the fact that the Whānau Ora concept is being used more widely, that it is not a concept that is "owned".
He does not believe the "Whānau Ora" concept belongs to any commissioning agency.
He can point to increases in funding under Whānau Ora - $20 million more this year and the same for three more years. About half of the increase would be going to the commissioning agencies themselves but some could go to providers working with families, groups that are not necessarily working through a commissioning agency.
It is difficult to see the room for compromise in this dispute because their positions are diametrically opposed: having control versus not having control.
The Waitangi Tribunal could tell the claimants and the Government to sort it out themselves but that would be breaking its tradition of accepting just about anything.
It may find for the claimants but in the end, the Government does not have to follow its recommendations. The Government has ultimate control and that much won't change.
