This inquiry acknowledged that Māori children were suffering or likely to suffer significant and irreversible prejudice as a result of the current or pending actions of Oranga Tamariki, for which there was no alternative remedy bar an immediate inquiry.

The Tribunal finds that persistent and significant disparity can, in part, be attributed to the effects of alienation and dispossession. However, it also reflects the Crown’s failure to honour the guarantee to Māori of the right of cultural continuity embodied in the guarantee of tino rangatiratanga over their kāinga. As such, the report finds that disparities are a direct consequence of the Crown’s intrusion into the rangatira of Māori over their kāinga.