Bank backs deal to help Maori

Small Kaipara-based iwi Te Uri O Hau is set to be the first to benefit from a project being run by Westpac and the Business Council for Sustainable Development.

The scheme aims to help Maori organisations maximise the business potential of Treaty of Waitangi settlements.

It involves the bank, the council, and Government agencies working with the Northland tribe which received $15.6 million in assets in 2002 after settling with the Crown over its treaty claim.

Te Uri O Hau already has a detailed plan for what to do with the proceeds of the settlement, but the project involves refining the tribe's business model, so it can best achieve its social, cultural, environmental and commercial objectives.

The project also involves turning the Northland experience into a blueprint for other tribal settlements "so that the cost and effort involved will not have to be duplicated".

Westpac chief executive Ann Sherry said the project was about recognising the importance of the contribution made to New Zealand by the Maori economy as a whole. The bank had a large Maori customer base.

"For Westpac, the project is firstly about a commonsense commitment to the social and economic sustainability of our customers and the communities where we operate," she said.

Council chairman Stephen Tindall said it was vital to have successful Maori enterprise underpinning the sustainability of Maori communities.

"Sustainable development is already at the heart of [Te Uri O Hau's] enterprise model. The joint project with Westpac aims to deliver to Te Uri O Hau greater financial control, efficient maximisation of resources and a stronger community focus."

The project is expected to last about a year and result in the development of an operating manual which could be used by those involved in other treaty settlements, and the Maori enterprise that settlements generate.

Sherry was last night honoured for her bank's efforts to boost the economic wellbeing of isolated Aboriginal communities in Australia.

She was invested as an Officer of the Order of Australia in recognition of her service to the community.