Amid all the fun and laughter it was clear the department, and the work it undertook to better the lot of Maori families, was well respected. Many staff got their first job with the department, some remaining for much of their working lives. It wasn't common to move from job to job as it is these days. They were given good training and mentored by senior staff. When they did leave they went with a marketable set of skills. They would have added value to any organisation they moved to.
Those were the years before restructuring, disestablishing and corporatisation. Before staff became surplus to requirements. Maori Affairs staff knew the value of their work. They knew if they did a good job they could make a difference to the lives of thousands of Maori families. And they did. They knew who they were serving. They knew whanau, hapu and iwi affiliations. They knew the areas they could assist in, be it housing, matua whangai, trade training and employment or land development.
I still hear people today say "I'll go and talk to Walter, he'll know the history to that block", or "Henry will know what I need to do". The experience staff gained was invaluable and the Maori Affairs Act 1953 had to be known back to front.
1980 was a decisive year. For the first time in history the Minister of Maori Affairs, the Secretary of Maori Affairs and the Chief Judge of the Maori Land Court were all Maori. Change was afoot.
The secretary, Kara Puketapu, saw Maori Affairs as a "very well disciplined, bureaucratic, stable department" in which rapid change was necessary. He ushered in a programme of reform that included the marae enterprise scheme, kokiri centres, kohanga reo and matua whangai. He knew that government spending on Maori was locked into "negative spending" that did nothing to assist the economic progress and social equality of Maori. And under Dr Reedy reform continued with the emphasis on partnership with iwi. Devolution of programmes to Maori themselves was just around the corner.
It may have taken successive governments many decades to figure out that Maori aspirations could no longer sit within the framework of the old department and its legislation. But the staff would have known that change must eventually come. The former staff who attended the reunion in Whitianga worked through some of the most important changes ever seen in a government department. They gave their best efforts then and continue today in their various roles to support and empower Maori to develop their unlimited potential.
-Merepeka lives in Rotorua. She writes, speaks and broadcasts to thwart the spread of political correctness.
