The facts about He Puapua w/ Co-author Professor Claire Charters: December 5th, 2023

He Puapua, the odds are that you may not have read it, but it is most likely that you have at least heard of the controversial report.

The report was labelled as “segregation by stealth” by the former National Party Leader Judith Collins, and the report even garnered a special mention in National’s Coalition Agreement with NZ First, with the National Party agreeing to stop all work on He Puapua.

Amidst the controversy and outrage one question has remained unanswered, what actually is He Puapua?

He Puapua was a report published by a working group intended to help envision what Aotearoa would look like if we were compliant with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous people.

The National government signed New Zealand up to the declaration in 2010 after we had previously rejected joining the declaration, despite the declaration not having any legislative effect in Aotearoa.

He Puapua was written to give advice and recommendations, but had no legal authority or legislative power.

Despite this He Puapua has been purposefully obfuscated and misconstrued.

Nicholas spoke to Co-author of He Puapua Claire Charters about the report, our discussion began with a question about the reports inception.