A belief now is not the time to cut specialist Maori roles - when rangatahi and tamariki make up 69 percent of children in state care

Oranga Tamariki's axing 447 jobs - including 21 specialist Maori roles - who support and advise workers and ministers on Te Ao Maori.

The Ministry's consultation documents says it's reached a 'state of maturity' on cultural capability.

But Public Service Association's Janice Panoho says there's not enough evidence of this.

She says standard practices - like continued training and development for new and existing staff - should be built into organisation infrastructures.