Kei hea te taunga mō ngā Wātene Māori haere ake nei? Kei te puta haere a Te Puni Kōkiri me te Kaunihera Māori o Aotearoa ki te ketuketu i ngā whakaaro a ngā Wātene i mua te hui ā motu ā te marama e heke mai nei.
Tekau tau a Niki Hitaua e mahi ana ki rō hapori hei Wātene Māori.
Kua kite a ia i ngā tini āhuatanga, arā hei tā Niki Hitaua, "He nui ngā rangatahi e haututu ana, ngā whānau kore kāenga, ngā mea kore kai i roto i a rātau whare."
E mahi ana ngā wātene Māori i raro i te Ture Whakawhanake Hapori Māori 1972, engari anō wā rātau ake mahi kei tua atu i ngā tohutohu o te ture rā.
Hei tā Niki Hitaua, “He tiki i ngā mātua, whakahoki i a rātau ki roto kāinga, kāre he waka.”
Ko tā te Kaiwhakahaere Wātene Māori i Te Puni Kōkiri ko tā Te Rau Clarke, “People have underestimated the kind of activities that Māori Warden do in communities and how they go about doing their work and how they support whānau. This is probably more recognition for the work that they do.”
Kei te takiwā o te 900 ngā wātene Māori puta noa i Aotearoa, ā matapaetia ana ka eke tērā nama ki te kotahi mano ā te mutunga o te tau. Kua rua nei rātau e karanga ana kia whai mana motuhake ai rātau ki te whakahaere i wā rātau ake nā mahi, me te aha ko te āhua ia e taringa areare ana te Minita Whakawhanake Māori a Nanaia Mahuta.
“This provides them with an opportunity to take greater control of what happens to them as a membership nationally, and in the district. And defining the boundaries on what they're capable of doing as a rōpū, and what then goes into the more specialist areas that they may not have the skills to be able to do”, te kī a Te Rau Clarke.
Hei tā Te Kaunihera Māori he āheing tonu kei mua kia poipoi i ngā kaimahi ki rō hapori.
Koia tā te Tumu ko tā Mike Tukakai, “In the 1960's and the 1970's it was about a career in Policing, today it could be a career in education or could be a pathway for a lot younger people than me, into social work or any of these other things, and we would love to see them not only have more control over their affairs, but also grow the number of Māori wardens out there.”
Hei te tekau mā iwa o Hūrae tū ai te hui ā motu ki Ngāruawāhia.