Marama Davidson has acknowledged the Green Party has "some work to do" when it comes to upholding its responsibility to the Treaty of Waitangi.
The co-leader candidate told The Hui she'd rate the Green Party's current performance as "six out of 10".
"We need to ensure, inside the Green Party, that our power is being shared at the highest level, that Māori members of the Green Party are making decisions all along the way to maintain the party's responsibility to Te Tiriti.
"We're not quite there yet. I'm keen on leading some constitutional reform to make sure that Te Rōpū Pounamu is actually equally sharing the power and decision making processes."
Te Rōpū Pounamu is a Māori network within the Green Party. According to the party's website, its job is "acknowledging the Green Party's commitment to honouring te Tiriti o Waitangi".
"Te Rōpū Pounamu accepts the responsibility to actively support and advocate for the inclusion of a Māori dimension in all Green Party processes, policies and practices, in the context of a reciprocal relationship of aroha between Te Rōpū Pounamu and the wider Green Party," it says.
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Co-leader candidate Julie Anne Genter told The Hui Te Rōpū Pounamu is not always consulted with regard to individual bills.
"They're volunteers and they're not well resourced to be providing advice on a moment's notice.
"We have full-time employees who are employees in parliament who are Māori advisors.
With all of our Bills and all of our decisions, we look at it from a Te Tiriti lens. As it happens on of our advisors, our Māori advisor, is a member of Te Rōpū Pounamu.
"We have an executive representative and a policy representative on caucus. Ideally we'd have a Te Rōpū Pounamu representative on caucus as well."
Ms Genter said if she becomes Green Party co-leader, she will "always be looking and consulting for advice with Marama".
The Green Party will announce its new co-leader on April 8.
Since August last year leader James Shaw has been flying solo, following the resignation of Metiria Turei.
Around 150 delegates in 70 branches will determine who the winner will be.
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