2018 Conference
Hon Kelvin Davis - Ministerial address on ‘Indigenous Futures’
Hon Kelvin Davis is New Zealand’s first Minister for Māori Crown Relations: Te Arawhiti, Minister of Corrections, Minister of Tourism and Associate Minister of Education (Māori Education). Kelvin Davis is a successful former teacher and school Principal who turned a struggling Northland school around, and enabled the students to achieve beyond their potential.
He was first elected to Parliament as part of the Labour Party in 2008. He is the MP for Te Tai Tokerau. Born and bred in the Bay of Islands but now living in Kaitaia, Kelvin is a man of the north who brings skills in education and Māori issues to the Cabinet table to improve outcomes for all New Zealanders educationally, financially, culturally and socially.
He is a person with common sense and pragmatism who is able to relate across all sectors of society, but is most at home either fishing or up in the bush of his beloved Karetu Valley. As Māori Crown Relations: Te Arawhiti Minister, Kelvin Davis’ role will be to progress the Treaty relationship beyond the settlement of Treaty grievances into what it means to work together in partnerships and have responsibility for a new agency to oversee Government’s work with Māori in a post-settlement era.