One of the Department’s main goals for the 2003/2004 year is to improve its responsiveness to Māori, the indigenous people of New Zealand, and an integrated staff network was set up recently to provide collective input on the Department’s Māori issues.
The network includes key representatives of about 40 staff from across the Department and taps into existing Maori staff networks. It will provide a forum for Maori staff input on improving the Department’s performance for Māori.
The network’s pepeha, or guiding statement, is Whakaiti kia pu mau mo te iwi – which loosely translated means, “maintain humility to strengthen yourself to serve the people”.
Chief Executive Mark Byers addressed the inaugural hui (meeting), endorsing the principle and reasons behind it.
“Many Maori staff have expressed their desire to do more for Maori people. There is plenty of positive energy among them to achieve our guiding statement through the supportive environment of the network,” he says.
“It’s about recognising the solutions that Māori staff, working in a Māori way, can generate to address Māori issues.”
Around 40 Corrections staff, from Public Prisons Service, Community Probation Service, Psychological Service and Head Office attended the Department’s first integrated Maori staff network hui.