The Government’s planned overhaul of the public service is reigniting fears among Māori public servants and advocates who say Māori-focused teams and Treaty capability across government have already been significantly weakened by years of restructuring and cuts.
Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Public Service Minister Paul Goldsmith on Tuesday announced a sweeping plan to reduce the size of the core public service to around 55,000 staff by 2029, alongside increased use of artificial intelligence, digitisation and agency mergers.
This means 8700 people could lose their jobs.
The Government says the overhaul will save $2.4 billion over four years and help redirect funding into health, education, infrastructure, police and defence.
Willis said parts of the public sector remained “locked into outdated ways of doing things that prioritise box-ticking over outcomes”.
Goldsmith said the size of the public service had “ballooned” between 2017 and 2023 and needed to return to “historic norms”.
“Historically, core public service numbers have been equivalent to about 1 per cent of the population,” Goldsmith said.
“Between 2017 and 2023, those numbers ballooned out to about 1.2 per cent of the population.”
The Government says reductions will occur progressively through digitisation, mergers, simplification of systems and natural attrition, and said frontline services such as teachers, police and frontline health workers would not be included.
The Public Service Association says the proposal could ultimately see nearly 9,000 public service jobs disappear by 2029, roughly one in seven current roles.
PSA National Secretary Duane Leo described the proposal as “an act of wilful destruction of the public service”.
“This is not just about jobs in Wellington,” Leo said.
“Fifty-five percent of public service workers support communities around New Zealand.”
He warned the Government’s projected $2.4 billion in savings would inevitably mean reduced public services.
“Less means less. Lower quality, slower and fewer services.”
Potential impacts on Māori public servants
For Māori public servants, there are fears Māori-focused capability and Treaty expertise could be disproportionately impacted.
Māori public servants, past and present, who spoke anonymously to Te Ao Māori News said Māori staff across agencies were already stretched carrying cultural, tikanga and Treaty responsibilities after the last few years of restructures and disestablishments.
“In my public sector org, I feel like the same Māori are consistently called upon for cultural labour,” one public servant said.
“Our numbers of Māori are already slim, and these cuts are only going to further narrow this scope, and put those always being called upon under even more pressure to bring their ‘Māori’ view to the tēpu.”
Another said, as the sole provider for their whānau, ‘the stress is so high’ amid the latest announcements of cuts, and it feels like a ‘kick in the teeth’.
One former public servant said the disestablishment of their Māori-focused team recently had lasting impacts on both staff and their trust in government institutions.
“Our team was disestablished in 2025. My team had a Māori name, and we did Māori things in our work,” they said.
“It was really hard. The aggression was unmatched, and we haven’t yet recovered from the shellshock.”
The former worker said some staff affected by the cuts have struggled to find work - this has been a common experience from those Te Ao spoke to.
“Some of us have had to ask social welfare for assistance because there is no work.”
They said the experience had fundamentally changed how they viewed the public service.
“I will never trust it to represent me as a citizen again,” they said.
Others described fears that Māori voices inside government agencies would continue to shrink.
“Worried is an understatement,” one former public servant said.
“We have a government hell-bent on making life difficult for Māori. The recent attacks on Te Tiriti, on te reo, on women are just a few examples of the divisive approach it is taking.
“We have seen the high number of Māori roles disestablished. I am concerned that the whitewashing agenda this government is committed to embedding will lead to a drain of cultural understanding in the public service, making it even harder for Māori communities to have a voice in the development of policies that will impact them.”
Cuts to Māori and Treaty focus teams to date
While no official Government-wide tally exists, publicly identifiable Māori-focused roles and functions impacted across agencies, there is a clear trend in the teams and positions that have been restructured in most agencies.
Among the most significant changes was the disestablishment of Te Aka Whai Ora in 2024, removing the standalone Māori Health Authority and shifting functions back into Health New Zealand and the Ministry of Health.
Te Arawhiti also underwent a major restructure, with 49 roles disestablished and another 44 transferred to Te Puni Kōkiri.
Te Puni Kōkiri itself has also faced multiple rounds of restructuring.
Just last month, the PSA warned proposed changes at Te Puni Kōkiri alone could result in the cumulative loss of more than 100 roles, about 21 percent of the agency’s workforce.
PSA Te Kaihautū Māori Jack McDonald said the cuts would “further gut the Crown’s ability to meet their Te Tiriti obligations and deliver improved outcomes for Māori”.
“This Government has slashed Māori and Te Tiriti-focused roles, teams, and programmes, and the role of te reo Māori and tikanga Māori in the public service has been undermined,” McDonald said.
“These senseless cuts will mean the work of supporting Ministers and senior leaders will fall on already stretched staff. This mahi is often unseen and unpaid and will increase the risks of burnout and increased stress for staff.”
McDonald also criticised proposals to remove Māori capability positions supporting te reo Māori and tikanga Māori development inside the agency.
“Axing two Māori capability roles that support Te Puni Kōkiri kaimahi strengthening their te reo Māori and tikanga Māori will hamper the organisation’s ability to engage effectively with Te Ao Māori, which is critical to the work of Te Puni Kōkiri.”
The Ministry of Justice had also confirmed proposals affecting Treaty and Māori partnership functions, including the disestablishment of its inquiries team, which supported Crown participation in Waitangi Tribunal kaupapa inquiries.
The PSA has previously warned broader restructures risk weakening Māori-Crown relationship capability and reducing kaupapa Māori expertise across government.
Recent workforce figures cited by the PSA showed agencies such as the Social Investment Agency and Ministry for Regulation recorded staffing growth over the past year, while Te Puni Kōkiri and the Office of Treaty Settlements both saw workforce reductions.
Former Labour Minister chimes in
Nanaia Mahuta also criticised the Government’s planned overhaul, particularly its emphasis on digitisation and artificial intelligence as part of public service reductions online.
“Cutting 9,000 jobs is not reform. It’s retreat,” Mahuta wrote in a social media post.
“When you hollow out the public service, you don’t just trim a budget line, you strip the Crown of its ability to govern.”
Mahuta warned the loss of experienced public servants risked weakening Crown-Māori relationships and institutional knowledge across government.
“The people being cut are not ‘back office’ or ‘policy wonks,” she said.
“They are the Treaty practitioners who hold Crown-Māori relationships together.”
She also criticised the Government’s proposal to increase the use of AI and automation within the public service.
“Artificial intelligence cannot bring life to Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Only people can.”
“Human judgement cannot be replaced with automated decision-making stripped of values, lived experience and the human condition.”
Mahuta warned AI and automation without sufficient oversight could “lead to bias at scale across the public sector”.
