Summarised by Centrist
Michael Laws says mainstream and Māori media are failing the country by refusing to confront the scale of child abuse and welfare dependency within Māori communities, warning that real solutions are impossible without honest discussion.
Drawing on research by Lindsay Mitchell, Laws noted that 35% of Māori babies born in 2024 were dependent on welfare by year-end, with 44% of Māori children born in 2023 on welfare by age two — compared to 15% for non-Māori.
“Growing up in homes where nobody works,” Laws warned, increases exposure to violence, poor education outcomes, and substance abuse.
Speaking on The Platform, Laws argued that political funding pressures, including the Public Interest Journalism Fund, have led major outlets to prioritise positive Māori coverage while sidelining critical issues. “Unless you talk about a problem, you won’t be able to solve it,” he said, noting the media’s failure to confront a growing crisis.
Laws said Kiwis across the political spectrum want Māori to succeed – not as a culturally isolated group, but as full contributors to New Zealand society. “We want Māori to be entrepreneurs, businesspeople, surgeons, dentists – not lawyers preferably,” he joked.
“If I was a Māori activist or a Māori political leader… I might be addressing that issue above all else because it represents the most obvious and existing danger to Māori achievement in this country,” he said.
