Former Maori Party co-leader Dame Tariana Turia has called for the abolition of Dame Susan Devoy's Race Relations Commissioner role, saying the responsibility for combating racism in New Zealand should be broadened to all state sector chiefs.

LISTEN ABOVE: Dame Tariana Turia talks to Chris Lynch about the scrapping of New Zealand's Race Relations role. 

In an opinion piece in the Herald marking 150 years since the establishment of Parliament's Maori seats, Dame Tariana said race relations in New Zealand needed a "comprehensive review".

The recent "circus of errors" which followed "Mad Butcher" Sir Peter Leitch's comments on race two weeks ago showed New Zealand still had a lot to learn about how Maori and Pakeha could work together, she said. 

Sir Peter was accused of racism after describing Waiheke as a "white man's island". In a public debate which lasted several days, his accuser, Auckland woman Lara Bridger, had her Maori heritage questioned by former National Party president Michelle Boag, who described her as "coffee-coloured."

Dame Tariana said: "If there is one thing that the Mad Butcher's ill-considered 'banter' has taught us it is that we need more opportunities as a nation to examine racism, to understand our diverse cultural perspectives, to engage in cross-cultural conversations."

She said successive governments had failed to "make good" on major reviews in the 1980s and 1990s which identified widespread personal, cultural and institutional racism in New Zealand. The rise in the number Maori MPs under the MMP electoral system had not necessarily led to greater representation of Maori interests, she said.

Turia made a series of new recommendations for the Government, including the abolition of the Race Relations Commissioner role and a requirement for all state sector heads to be responsible for monitoring and reporting progress on "cultural competency".

"Abdicating responsibility to a single Race Relations Commissioner - no matter how well Dame Susan Devoy is doing in the role - is fraught with danger that the great majority of agencies and individuals fail to give race relations the priority required."  

Turia, who left Parliament in 2014, also recommended an international day to eliminate racist discrimination and a comprehensive government strategy to address personal, cultural and institutional racism.