Crown-Māori relations clash over jobs forecast and youth unemployment
Labour's Māori development spokesperson Willie Jackson says Crown-Māori relations are at "an all-time low" and "an embarrassment", in comments reported on 14 October 2026. Minister for Māori-Crown Relations Paul Goldsmith rejected that assessment. RNZ
What was said
Goldsmith pointed to Treasury forecasts of 220,000 new jobs over the next four years. Treasury is the Government's economic adviser. He said the forecast jobs would create "huge opportunities for Māori, young and old", according to the same report.
Jackson pointed to pressure on rangatahi, or young people, in the labour market. He said Māori youth unemployment is "at a record high". He put the rate for 15 to 24-year-olds at "around 25 percent".
Where the jobs number comes from
The 220,000 figure is a standing Government projection. Budget 2026 documents put the creation of 220,000 jobs to 2030, with wage growth forecast to average 3.1 percent over the next four years. The Government has said wages are expected to grow faster than prices and outstrip inflation. Beehive That Budget jobs figure was also repeated in the House on 24 June during exchanges on Budget 2026.
Like a long-range weather forecast, it sets out what is expected. Labour is asking about current conditions instead.
What Parliament has heard before
This is not a new argument. In June, Goldsmith rejected claims Crown-Māori relations were worsening and described relations as "remaining in good shape". Te Ao News He also holds the Treaty Negotiations portfolio, the ministerial job that leads historical Treaty settlement talks.
On 21 May, Jackson asked the Minister to confirm that no jobs relating to maintaining Māori-Crown relations would be lost at Te Puni Kōkiri, the Ministry for Māori Development. On 12 March, during debate on the Employment Leave Bill, the House heard that nearly 5,500 Māori came off the jobseeker benefit, the payment for people looking for work, in the quarter ending September 2025. Goldsmith was listed as Minister of Justice in the 12 May Hansard record, the official written record of Parliament.
The broader context here is a familiar contest over which numbers carry weight. The Government wants the debate judged on forward forecasts for jobs and wages. Labour wants it judged on current outcomes for Māori youth and on the state of the relationship itself. For officials and advisers who work the Māori-Crown interface day to day, the practical questions are narrower. They include what resourcing sits behind the relationship function in Te Puni Kōkiri, how Treaty negotiations are tracking under Goldsmith's parallel warrant, and whether projected employment growth reaches the cohorts Jackson named.
In my view, neither side shifted ground in this exchange. Jackson used stark language on the relationship to force attention to youth unemployment. Goldsmith used the Treasury track to argue opportunity is coming. That leaves the test for the next data, not the next quote. If jobseeker and youth unemployment figures move, ministers will claim the forecasts are landing. If they do not, the Opposition will argue the forecasts do not answer the relationship question at all.
