There’s been a major shake-up at the Waitangi Tribunal, with more than half of the current members, including some esteemed Māori academics, losing their places to make way for some controversial new appointments.

Established in 1975, the Waitangi Tribunal investigates alleged Crown breaches of the promises made to Māori in the Treaty of Waitangi. While its findings are influential, they are generally non-binding, except in specific cases. Questions over its scope, particularly on issues like constitutional reform, highlight ongoing debates about its role. However, the tribunal remains a key mechanism for addressing Māori-Crown relations through its independent, expert-driven processes.

The Waitangi Tribunal can have up to 20 members, appointed for three-year terms by the governor general on the recommendation of the minister for Māori development (currently Tama Potaka). The tribunal website says that members come from “all walks of life” and that membership is about half Māori and half Pākehā. A panel of three to seven members, at least one of whom must be Māori, is appointed to each inquiry. 

Following the appointment of two new members and reappointment of one in October 2023, on Friday last week (January 17), Potaka announced eight new appointments to the tribunal, as well as the reappointment of five existing members. That means that the majority of existing members – 11 of them – will soon no longer be part of the tribunal. These 11 were either appointed or reappointed by then Māori development minister Willie Jackson in February 2022, so their three-year terms are about to expire. An additional four members are only part way through their three-year terms, so are expected to remain.

The changes come amid controversy over a narrower remit pledged by the government (via the National-NZ First coalition agreement) and criticism of recent appointments like former Act Party leader Richard Prebble in October. In Friday’s press release, Potaka said the new appointments would strengthen the tribunal and help ensure it remains fit for purpose. He said members were appointed “for their broad expertise in the matters that are likely to come before the tribunal”.

The new appointments tend to have held high-level leadership roles in business, have experience in policy advising, law, media or local politics. Departing members tend to be academics – particularly historians. So who is in and who is out?

Who is out?

Dr Robyn Anderson, a historian first appointed to the tribunal in 2004, has undertaken research and prepared evidence for the Waitangi Tribunal and for claimants from the Hauraki, Kaipara and Whanganui districts. 

Ron Crosby, appointed to the tribunal in 2011, spent 30 years as a court lawyer, specialising in Treaty-related and resource management cases, and has written several books on New Zealand history. According to the Herald’s Audrey Young, he did not seek reappointment. 

Professor Rawinia Higgins (Tūhoe), appointed in 2013, is deputy vice-chancellor Māori at Te Herenga Waka. Her research expertise is Māori language revitalisation and language planning and policy. 

Prue Kapua (Te Arawa), appointed to the tribunal in 2018, is the principal of a law firm and has extensive experience in resource management and the Treaty. She has held key governance roles in public health, legal governance and Māori development, and is president of the Māori Women’s Welfare League.

Basil Morrison CNZM has had a long career in local government, serving as mayor of Hauraki District and president of Local Government New Zealand. He currently chairs the Local Government Superannuation Board and is a New Zealand freshwater commissioner. He was appointed to the tribunal in 2008.

Dr Grant Phillipson has been involved with the tribunal since 1993, becoming its chief historian in 1997. He has supervised the tribunal’s commissioned research programme, and has written many historical reports and academic papers on Treaty history, the Waitangi Tribunal and Māori land. He became a member of the tribunal in 2011.

Professor Tom Roa (Ngāti Maniapoto, Waikato Tainui), appointed in 2016, is a professor in the faculty of Māori and indigenous studies at the University of Waikato. He specialises in the history of Waikato-Tainui, Ngāti Maniapoto and the Kīngitanga. Roa has served in key governance roles for Waikato-Tainui.

Tania Simpson ONZM (Tainui, Ngāpuhi, Ngāi Tahu) is a director of Auckland International Airport, Meridian Energy and Tainui Group Holdings. She holds a masters in mātauranga Māori and has had a career in public policy and governance. She was appointed to the tribunal in 2008.

Professor Linda Tuhiwai Smith CNZM (Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Porou) is a distinguished professor at Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi who is internationally recognised for her work on decolonising research methodologies. She was the founding co-director of Ngā Pae o Te Māramatanga and has held senior roles at the University of Auckland and Waikato University. Smith was appointed to the tribunal in 2016.

Dr Monty Soutar ONZM (Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Awa, Ngāi Tai, Ngāti Kahungunu) is a historian and novelist. He has been a teacher, soldier, university lecturer, iwi runanga chief executive and senior historian with the Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Soutar was appointed to the Tribunal in 2002.

Herewini Te Koha (Ngāti Porou, Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Tamaterā) is the director of Ngā Mātārae, the Māori outcomes directorate at Auckland Council. He has held leadership roles in the public sector and governance groups and was part of Ngāti Porou’s Treaty claims negotiation team. Te Koha was appointed to the Tribunal in 2021. According to the Herald’s Audrey Young, he did not seek reappointment.

Who are the new members?

Tipene Chrisp (Whāngai to Rangitāne) is the chief policy adviser at Rangitane Tu Mai Ra Trust, a post-settlement governance entity. Previously, he was a negotiations and settlement manager at the Office of Treaty Settlements and acted as director of the tribunal for a six-month secondment in 2009.

Philip Crump is a former conservative blogger who, writing under the pen name Thomas Cranmer, became very popular from 2020 onwards. He was hired by NZME in 2023 to run ZB Plus, a right-leaning website offshoot of Newstalk ZB that has since ended. Previously, Crump was a commercial lawyer who spent much of his 20-year career in London, who has “significant experience of statutory and contractual interpretation, negotiation and dispute resolution procedures”, according to Potaka’s press release announcing his appointment. He was also recently appointed to the board of NZ On Air.

Vanessa Eparaima (Raukawa, Ngāti Tūwharetoa) is a business consultant, company director and former chief executive who holds governance and board positions across not-for-profit and commercial organisations. She negotiated a Treaty of Waitangi Settlement for the Raukawa Charitable Trust in 2012.

Rex Edward Hale has written two novels and is an experienced public servant. There’s not much about him online, but Potaka’s press release says he has experience in preparing oral and written resources to support tribunal claimants.

Grant Hadfield is a councillor on the Manawatū District Council who has held executive and governance roles in the rural sector. Hadfield was a vocal opponent of Three Waters.

Kingi Kiriona (Ngāti Ruanui, Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Apa) is a director of Whakaata Maori and a member of Te Mātāwai, an independent entity working with the Crown to lead Māori language revitalisation. Kiriona has been a Māori language consultant and presenter for TVNZ and other broadcasters.

Ron Mark is the mayor of Carterton, and a former NZ First MP who served as minister of defence between 2017 and 2020. Before moving into politics, he served in the army from 1971 to 1990, was a commercial consultant, ran an import and export business, and was an amusement park operator.

Professor Tafaoimalo Tologata Leilani Tuala-Warren is Aotearoa’s first Pacific dean of law at the University of Waikato. She has had a distinguished legal career in Samoa where she was appointed supreme court justice in 2016.

Former Act leader Richard Prebble was appointed to the tribunal in October alongside Ken Williamson, a Waikato business leader and fellow of the Insurance Brokers Association of New Zealand who has experience in risk prevention, risk management and disaster management.

Reappointed members

Dr Ruakere Hond (Taranaki, Te Āti Awa) was first appointed in 2018 and will be serving a third term. He is a longstanding advocate of te reo Māori revitalisation and holds a doctorate in public health. He is currently leading an initiative in the Ministry of Education to support teachers to use reo Māori. 

Derek Fox (Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Porou) was first appointed to the tribunal in 2021 and will be serving a second term. Fox has been at the forefront of Māori broadcasting for over 40 years. He was Māori Party candidate in several elections and the mayor of Wairoa from 1995 to 2001. 

Kim Ngarimu (Ngāti Porou) is a consultant and professional governor with an extensive public service career, including roles as deputy secretary at Te Puni Kōkiri and acting chief executive of the Ministry of Women. She was first appointed to the Waitangi Tribunal in 2018 and is now serving her third term.

Dr Hana O’Regan (Ngāi Tahu), first appointed in 2021, will be serving a second term. O’Regan is a Māori language advocate and academic and has held positions on national boards, review panels, and committees across education, Māori development, national identity, Treaty rights and policies, and health. She is a published author of non-fiction and poetry and a composer. 

Professor Sir Pou Temara (Ngāi Tūhoe) will be the longest-standing member, serving a sixth term. Temara, a Māori philosophy expert at Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi, is renowned for his authority on Māori customary practices and te reo Māori. He has mediated in iwi disputes, contributed to Tribunal hearings, and served on Kīngi Tuheitia’s Council of 12. As a member of the Tūhoe Waikaremoana Māori Trust Board, he made several submissions during the Tribunal’s Te Urewera hearings.

Kevin Prime, beekeeper, farmer and forester, is a commissioner with the Environment Court. He is involved in community matters with marae, rūnanga and trusts, and educational, forestry, health and conservation groups. Prime was appointed to the tribunal in 2021 and reappointed in October last year.

Members with continuing terms

Four members’ terms are not up for renewal. It is not yet known whether they will be reappointed.

Dr David V Williams, once a Hawke’s Bay shepherd, has taught and researched law and legal history at Waipapa Taumata Rau, has worked as an independent researcher on Treaty claims and served as a claims negotiator. Williams was appointed to the Tribunal in 2023.

Dr Ann Parsonson is a senior historian and an adjunct senior fellow in the history department at the University of Canterbury who has worked with Ngāi Tahu, Ngā Iwi o Taranaki and Waikato iwi on Treaty claims. Parsonson was first appointed to the Tribunal in 2001.

Susy Frankel, appointed to the tribunal in 2020, is a law professor at Victoria University of Wellington who focuses on the intersection of international intellectual property, indigenous knowledge protection, and international trade.

Dr Paul Hamer, appointed to the tribunal in 2020, is a historian with extensive expertise in Treaty settlements, Māori history and the public sector. He contributed to major inquiries like Wai 262 and Te Paparahi o te Raki.

What has the response to the changes been?

In October, when former Act leader Richard Prebble was appointed to the Waitangi Tribunal, Labour MP and former Māori development minister Willie Jackson said it was a “kick in the guts” for Māori due to Prebble’s connections to Act, the architect of the Treaty principles bill. Current party leader David Seymour welcomed the appointment, saying Act was “looking forward to his contributions in ensuring that the Treaty of Waitangi is interpreted and applied in a manner that reflects what it actually says”.

Last week’s appointments were criticised by Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, who described the changes as a “whitewash” in a post on Instagram. Referencing Rawinia Higgins, Tom Roa and Linda Tuhiwai Smith, she said, “Tama Potaka has removed some of te ao Māori’s greatest thinkers from the Waitangi Tribunal and replaced them with pale, stale males.” On X, political commentator and former Labour Party campaign manager Shane Te Pou wrote, “When there’s no place for a respected person like Matua Tom Roa on the Waitangi Tribunal, it’s clear we need to be more radical in our approach.”

This is Public Interest Journalism funded by NZ On Air.

The doctor who patiently waited for his dream role, then lasted barely a year in it.

If you’ve ever lived in Whangārei, chances are you’ve seen Shane Reti out and about in the city. Whether it was at Jimmy Jack’s on a Friday night, or Whangārei Growers Market on Saturday morning, Reti was always surrounded by a group of people eager to chat with their local MP. Clearly, Reti is well-liked by his constituents, having won his electorate seat three times out of four (he narrowly lost Whangārei in the Labour landslide of 2020).

Another thing that is clear about Reti is that his dream job was always minister of health. As a former GP, Reti had long been vocal about what needed to be done better in the health sector. But after patiently waiting in the wings for more than a decade, Reti had his dream job taken off him after a little over a year in the role.

Here’s a timeline of the political rise, and subsequent fall, of the man known affectionately as Dr Reti.

2013: Reti returns to Aotearoa from Boston, where he had been living for six years, working at Harvard Medical School. He had previously spent 17 years as a GP in Whangārei and was a member of the Northland District Health Board for seven years.

January 2014: Phil Heatley announces he is resigning from parliament after serving as the MP for Whangārei for 15 years. Reti declares his interest in contesting the relatively safe National seat.

March 2014: Reti is nominated as the National Party candidate for Whangārei, beating both current National list MP Paul Foster-Bell and local businessman Adam Isa.

September 2014: Reti wins the Whangārei electorate with a total of 20,111 votes, almost triple the amount received by the Labour candidate. He becomes the first Māori to hold the seat and a member of the fifth National government of New Zealand.

September 2017: After a relatively uneventful first term, Reti is re-elected in Whangārei, but the National government is replaced by the sixth Labour government after NZ First plays kingmaker. Under leader Bill English, Reti remains a low-ranking MP at 44 on the National Party list, but is named National’s associate spokesperson for health, and becomes deputy chairperson of the health select committee.

July 2018: National introduces a bill on medicinal cannabis in the name of Reti, who spearheaded its development. At the time, Reti said the bill would make cannabis medication products more widely available while also adding some much-needed regulatory detail to the then Labour government’s bill. The bill fails its second reading in 2021 but there was a large amount of overlap with the government’s medicinal cannabis legislation.

January 2019: In addition to his associate health spokesperson role, Reti picks up the shadow portfolio for tertiary education, skills and employment.

March, 2020: Reti is made a member of the Epidemic Response Committee, a select committee that considered the government’s response to Covid-19.

July 2020: Under leader Todd Muller, Reti is promoted to number 13 on the party list and given the associate drug reform portfolio. When Judith Collins takes over as leader of the opposition, she transfers the health spokesperson role from Michael Woodhouse to Reti, saying: “We have in Dr Shane Reti someone who is not only a medical doctor, but a specialist and someone who has even worked at Harvard.”

October, 2020: Preliminary results from the general election have Reti being re-elected to the Whangārei seat but the official count sees Labour newcomer Emily Henderson win the seat by 431 votes. Reti safely returns to parliament via his high list ranking (number four).

November, 2020: Following the election defeat, Gerry Brownlee steps down as deputy leader of the National Party. The party votes for Collins to retain her position as leader, while Reti is elected unopposed to replace Brownlee at number two. “Hopefully, I am complementary to what Gerry brought to the table. Caucus has seen me as a safe pair of hands and hardworking pair of hands – all attributes that Gerry has as well,” Reti says to RNZ.

November, 2021: Reti has a brief spell as interim leader of the National Party following the ousting of Judith Collins. In a formal leadership election a week later, Christopher Luxon becomes leader, with Nicola Willis replacing Reti as deputy.

January-March, 2022 : Reti gains attention after successfully requesting Elon Musk send Starlink satellite technology to Tonga following the Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha’apai tsunami. Luxon reshuffles the party list, with Reti moving from fifth to fourth. 

October 14, 2023: Reti wins back his seat in Whangārei at the general election, defeating Labour candidate Emily Warren-Clarke by 11,424 votes.

November 24, 2023: After a decade in politics, Reti is announced as health minister and Pacific peoples minister in the sixth National government, seemingly landing his dream role.

November 28, 2023: It doesn’t take long for Reti to find himself the subject of criticism, with many, including his fellow medical practitioners, condemning his defence of the government’s plans to amend smokefree legislation. Reti is also criticised by many Māori for his defence of plans to scrap Te Aka Whai Ora and the government’s plans to review the role of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

December 2023: It is unveiled that Reti has set the wheels in motion for the disestablishment of Te Aka Whai Ora. Three days later, it is reported that Reti has been charged with reviewing the University of Auckland’s Māori and Pacific Admission Programme, which he benefited from himself while studying at the University of Auckland. The next day, Reti appoints Ken Whelan as a Crown observer to Te Whatu Ora, citing ongoing difficulties with the restructure and health reforms.

May-June 24, 2024: Reti announces a $604m boost for Pharmac funding, which would include 54 new medicines and 26 cancer treatments. The announcement is hindered, however, by earlier unkept election promises made by National around funding for 13 cancer drugs. Those 13 drugs were not funded in the budget as promised but are included in the Pharmac boost announcement.

July 22, 2024: With mounting public pressure over a failing health system, Reti appoints Lester Levy as health commissioner,  sacking the entire Health NZ board. 

September 10, 2024: Hawke’s Bay health officials are instructed by Reti to scrap a policy that would allow free additional services for Māori and Pasifika youth.

September 25, 2024: Alongside infrastructure minister Chris Bishop, Reti announces the planned redevelopment of Dunedin Hospital either needs to be reduced, or done in stages. A report commissioned by the government found the current plans could not be delivered within the current $1.88bn budget. The announcement leads to massive public backlash and protests, with many claiming the government is prioritising roads and landlords instead of health. 

October 8, 2024: Reti announces the government has allocated an extra $6m to improve wait times and patient care and services at Palmerston North Hospital.

January 19, 2025: Luxon shuffles his cabinet, with the biggest demotion being that Reti is no longer the minister of health, giving up the position to Simeon Brown. Instead, Reti is appointed as minister of science, innovation and technology and given the new universities portfolio. He is demoted from fourth to ninth place in the cabinet ranking. “I am confident the organisation is heading in a much better direction than it was when we entered office but I’ve also heard Kiwis’ concerns – they expect to see even more progress,” Luxon explains. “What we need is the skills that Simeon Brown brings, which is delivery and execution, and I want him to now bring that into our healthcare system.”