Chester Borrows: Inaia Tonu Nei - How we have failed Māori

New Zealand's systems have failed our indigenous population, writes Chester Borrows. Photo / File

The Time is Now is a translation of the name a report from Māori with respect to the criminal justice system. The full title is Inaia Tonu Nei, We lead: You Follow and it is a response from Māori to the challenges and pitiful performance of the criminal justice system particularly as it deals with Māori.

That pitiful performance across all government agencies, whose failure impacts ultimately in the prison population and is reflected in statistics such as one in two Māori men having a conviction by age 30. One in four Maori males born in 1979 has been to jail. The average number of charges a Pākehā will have against them on a first appearance is one. The average for Māori is six. Sixty-eight per cent of Oranga Tamariki removals are Māori. The Pākehā rate of incarceration is about 103 per 100,000 and the rate of imprisonment for Maori is 620 per 100,000.

All the stats are horrible and given the chance to respond to the government Māori have said they want to be able to do justice with their own people as treaty partners and not as some patronised group allowed to help out by a Westminster style of government that rides roughshod over the values and principles of tikanga Māori.

Having been shut out of involvement over decades in a programme of systemic failure which has been fully funded by the taxpayer, Māori are now saying "give us a go".

No doubt there will be an outcry from some suggesting that there be one law for all and Māori would say, "Yep, because we have not got one law for all right now" – the statistics already quoted prove that.

New Zealand needs to be progressive enough to not only recognise its failures across government to have a single focus on the success of all its citizens but to acknowledge that previously the current systems of delivery across all government agencies have seen our indigenous population failed.

And it is not down to failure by those people who struggle but failure dealt out to them but successive governments who have not been willing to tailor approaches to address the shortfalls of provision.

Across the country we have seen people with huge energy wanting to do good things in their communities to see people flourish where previously and currently they struggle. But government agencies do not want to harness this energy towards enduring success.

Policy writers and decision makers seem to lack a willingness to go out and explore the work being done at the coalface of social sector delivery.

They will not move outside their self-constructed silos to recognise the full impact of their failures which flow from generation to generation.

Whereas individual teachers, social workers, health professionals, police and others will recognise the need, the further up the tree you climb the more the reluctance to work across agencies and especially with community groups to effect lasting and positive change.

Chester Borrows

We do have a single justice system in New Zealand, and it does not provide "one law for all". It currently ensures that the most vulnerable and those least able to access justice are treated most harshly.

It suits a population who are extraordinarily punitive in their approach to behaviours, unlike those populations in other countries whose justice figures we aspire to see in our country.

Māori are speaking out against systemic racism which has been identified for well in excess of 30 years. Tangata whenua are saying the time is now to change the system and give them the capacity and capability to work with their people in a responsible, restorative and rehabilitative way.

Inaia tonu nei!

• Chester Borrows served as Whanganui MP for 12 years and as a minister in the National Government. He is chairman of the Justice Reform Advisory Group, a lawyer and a former policeman.