{"id":434803,"date":"2026-05-19T09:48:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T09:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/434803\/"},"modified":"2026-05-19T09:48:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T09:48:10","slug":"ex-senior-labour-mp-joins-government-education-advisory-group","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/434803\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-senior Labour MP joins Government education advisory group"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former senior Labour MP Kelvin Davis has been appointed to the Government’s M\u0101ori Education Ministerial Advisory Group, Education Minister Erica Stanford has announced.<\/p>\n

Davis, a former teacher who spent decades in education before entering politics, joins a group of leaders and specialists tasked with raising achievement for M\u0101ori learners.<\/p>\n

Stanford described the former Labour deputy leader as “a respected M\u0101ori leader, educator and a former senior minister who has dedicated his career to improving outcomes for wh\u0101nau, rangatahi, and communities”.<\/p>\n

“Kelvin has been a strong advocate for education, M\u0101ori development, and social equity. He brings both experience and a deep commitment to public service to his work and I know he will be a fantastic appointment to the advisory group,” he said.<\/p>\n

“The M\u0101ori Education Ministerial Advisory Group is made up of esteemed leaders and innovators in M\u0101ori education. <\/p>\n

\"Erica<\/p>\n

Erica Stanford (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

“They bring extensive knowledge and education experience. I look forward to our work together to boost equitable outcomes in our education system.”<\/p>\n

The appointment marks a return to the space for Davis, who is of Ng\u0101puhi descent. <\/p>\n

Before entering Parliament in 2008, he was the principal of Kaitaia Intermediate School. He also worked for the Ministry of Education in M\u0101ori education roles.<\/p>\n

Davis served as associate education minister with responsibility for M\u0101ori education under the previous government. He was also the first M\u0101ori\u2013Crown Relations Minister.<\/p>\n

He became deputy to Jacinda Ardern when she was elevated to become Labour leader only seven weeks before the 2017 general election. <\/p>\n

Davis remained deputy leader of the party for six years under both prime ministers Ardern and Chris Hipkins before being replaced by Carmel Sepuloni.<\/p>\n

He retired from politics in February 2024<\/a> after losing his Te Tai Tokerau seat at the last election to then-Te Pati M\u0101ori candidate Mariameno Kapa-Kingi.<\/p>\n

The advisory group, chaired by public policy practitioner Will Workman, reports directly to the Education Minister over a two-year term. <\/p>\n

It would support the Government’s M\u0101ori Education Action Plan and contribute specialist knowledge towards six education priorities.<\/p>\n

Other members include Olivia Hall, former St Joseph’s M\u0101ori Girls’ College principal Dame Georgina Kingi, Kaiti School principal Billie-Jean Potaka-Ayton, and former Open Polytechnic executive director M\u0101ori, Turi Ngatai.<\/p>\n

Stanford said she was committed to working with Te Matakahuki and leaders of kaupapa M\u0101ori education to identify shared priorities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former senior Labour MP Kelvin Davis has been appointed to the Government’s M\u0101ori Education Ministerial Advisory Group, Education…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":434804,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[84,8028,4432,29720,111,43,139,69,135,10872],"class_list":["post-434803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-education","tag-labour-party","tag-maori-issues","tag-matauranga","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-politics","tag-torangapu"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=434803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434803\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/434804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=434803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=434803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=434803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}