Maori No Longer an Economic Risk

An economic wave, a cultural swell – or a treaty tsunami?  There’s much to celebrate here.

Over the past decade and a bit, we have seen the slow perception that being Maori is no longer an obstacle to economic growth.  The politically correct “add on …” has changed dramatically.

Mr Leith Comer, retiring Head of Te Puni Kokiri told us last year, “A year after I took office, the Maori economy was valued at $9 billion. Last year, with Maori-owned and operated business, tourism, fisheries, agriculture, forestry and other industries, those assets are now worth $39 billion and still counting.”  The former army chief added, “Maori success in business is hugely important to the wider perception of Maori by New Zealanders.”

So what’s happening?

All this change is taking place right under our noses without the public or (it seems) the media having anything informed about it. 

 No longer a risk, Maori culture and our way of doing business is now seen to enhance New Zealand business. Ngai Tahu, Tainui, Tuwharetoa, Te Arawa … these iwi on their own are making huge turnaround  gains. We are seeing Maori being self-employed and are increasingly becoming employers in Christchurch, Taupo, Rotorua and Hamilton. My own iwi in Gisborne own two trawlers fishing continuously off shore and training rangatahi at the local Polytechnic for work and in work. 

Yes … we still have to battle with knockers inside and outside Parliament who have questioned this success and whether Maori need a distinct economic development agency, like Te Puni Kokiri. The New Zealand Herald for instance claimed that Te Puni Kokiri alone could not claim sole credit for Maori gains in the past decade.  Mr Comer didn’t say that.

When the Tainui made several poor investments after its historic Treaty of Waitangi settlement deal in 1995, the media and the righteous rump of New Zealand went into hysterical top gear saying, that Maori should not be granted settlements as a waste of tax payer’s money.  Better business decisions since have silenced those critics as Maori companies break loose and earned respect in New Zealand.  Maori by being Maori have a distinct advantage by tapping into the lucrative global market especially in China. The Chinese way of doing things is very similar to the Maori way of doing things; kanohi ki te kanohi, they like to develop relationships and think about things in a longer frame.

Most gains in China had been made by traditional sectors - tourism, agriculture and fisheries - but new markets were also developing for Maori, including the sale of honey.  These business advances had been matched by a greater political clout for Maori in the past decade.  The number of Maori politicians has increased, and four of eight political parties were led by Maori MPs. Maori will sustain their presence in The House but the transition at the moment is difficult to measure.

The treaty settlement process while it is still on-going, includes deals with Tuhoe and Auckland-based iwi Ngati Whatua, over the past year.  There are many high points in Maori development:  Maori Television and the Maori involvement in the 2011 Rugby World Cup are two.

Recent acquisition of major interests in fisheries and growing diversification of land use shows that Maori entered the ‘knowledge wave economy’ in the 1990s using Maori based structures of tikanga and Maori culture and the Maori experience of Kohanga Reo, Kura Kaupapa, Whare Wananga, Kapa Haka, Maori TV and Maori Radio, and Maori entrepreneurial know-how in business, yet not losing the integrity of Tikanga.  As well, there are young and impatient Maori leaders interested in development, economics, and education as the only way forward; they say, “… rights only go so far, a good education, a good job, a stable home is for the longer answer.  Maori is showing increasing entry into tertiary education.

For the first time since the mid-nineteenth century, people who suppressed their Maoriness, now express it assertively.  It is a view from the high ground of a new millennium.  We should know where we have come from and where we are going.  People cannot be blamed for what they do not know, but they can perhaps be held accountable for what they do not know today, especially if their ignorance of the nature of our history is wilful and results in a perpetuation of inequalities and injustice. 

Of course … Europeans brought churches, schools, technology, trade and banks with them.  Maori welcomed and enjoyed these innovations into their economies and technologies.  Land was gifted by Waikato as an endowment for missionary schools and churches.  Large areas across Waikato were cultivated in wheat, potatoes, maize, kumara,  and other crops including orchards and the breeding of stock.  With missionary help, Maori built, owned and operated several flour mills and by the end of 1858 in an area from Waiuku to Ngaruawahia and across to Thames, Tainui owned and operated thrity-seven flour mills.  In addition 53 vessels of over 20 tons were registered as being in Maori ownership and the annual total of waka entering the harbour was listed as more than 1,700.   In the 1850s and 1860s, Waikato Maori had established their own trading bank.

Sadly though, Maori New Zealanders make up a disproportionate per centage of New Zealand’s, patients, defendants, inmates and unemployed, but education starting at Kohanga Reo is changing the cultural pattern of failure.

Good road signs ahead … a ground breaking educational programme for Mori students has had dramatic results on all students’ NCEA marks.  Te Kotahitanga, a pilot programme aimed at improving Maori achievement in schools has had resounding results.   Two of these, started in 2005 were James Cook High in Manurewa and Te Awamutu College in the Waikato.  Both recorded the number of Maori students achieving level 1 jumped from 13% to 38% in one year, and from 19% to 62% respectively in just one year.  Other schools have joined the programme and, says Dr Russell Bishop of Waikato University monitoring the programme, “When you help teachers to reach those kids, they then start teaching them as effectively as they teach everyone else, then the results take off.”

Maori leaders, like Sir Mark Solomon told us, “Yes, it’s good to have money and the things that money can buy to progress iwi and whanau, but it’s good too to check up once in a while and make sure we haven’t lost the things that money can’t buy.” 

I'm not a prophet but I’m more than optimistic for the future of our blessed nation.  The new wave in education, management and economics;  Education is the only antidote I know to combat hopelessness, failure, home violence and the poor Maori health indices that’s a shameful blip on our social landscape.

The leadership by working closely with Maori organisations is aiming to broaden work on Treaty issues, Maori tourism, and Maori connections with global markets.  "Whatever is good for Maori is good for our nation, and that's the best way forward”, Comer concluded. 

Make Maori richer and we are all richer as a nation. That is the nub of the treaty in the wake of the rights revolution.    

He ngaru tua whenua, ka u – the third wave taking the waka to the safety of the shore.