Abstract
This article examines the Sixth Labour Government’s innovation in establishing Te Arawhiti, the Ministry of Māori-Crown Affairs, to 'progress the Māori-Crown relationship in a positive, nation-building' way. The rhetoric of 'te arawhiti – the bridge' as a new approach to Māori Crown relationships is analysed in relation to three examples: Te Aka Whai Ora, the Māori Health Authority; the hapū occupation at Ihumaatao; and the political management of He Puapua, the report of the Working Group on a Plan to Realise the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Aotearoa/New Zealand. This article concludes that Jacinda Ardern’s government innovated well in places but only achieved its vision when constructing a model of its own design. When asked by Māori to 'cross the bridge' and work with Māori propositions for change, the government was not nimble enough to do so. Moreover, the bridge-building intent became a political weapon used against the Prime Minister, her government and Māori, and the government suffered a failure of communication and a failure of nerve in responding to these attacks. The consequence of these failures for Māori was even greater uncertainty, and political hostility, than before Labour took power.