Search on for Maori economic leaders

By COLIN JAMES

The search is on for a new generation of Maori economic leaders to drive the second hui taumata, or Maori economic development summit, to be held next year.

The intention to hold a summit has been confirmed by Prime Minister Helen Clark and Maori Affairs Minister Parekura Horomia following Clark's comment to the Labour Party conference on November 8 that it was time to "take stock" 20 years after the first summit in 1984.

Clark said that next year's summit would set a platform for Maori development for the next 20 years.

Much had happened since the first summit - including the development of kohanga reo and Maori language schools (kura), and Maori delivery of social services - and there was a "hell of a lot going in Maori business facilitation". But "it needs to lift up a cog again".

This is part of a "shift in focus from a gaps focus to an opportunity focus", the Prime Minister said.

Little detail is available. Horomia, however, said he would convene a "steering group" and vowed that the hui taumata would not be a "conference for the sake of a conference".

He wanted Maori to "bring to the table" of national development "well-managed assets and a highly educated people".

This, he said, required a cultural change in which better educated and more entrepreneurial younger Maori were not required to wait until their 60s before taking part in decision-making.

Associate Maori Affairs Minister John Tamihere, who is also Small Business Minister, said the steering group would be a new generation of younger leaders in place of the familiar faces of Maori Council chairman Sir Graham Latimer, Treaty of Waitangi Fisheries Commission chair Shane Jones, Federation of Maori Authorities deputy chairman Paul Morgan and Tamihere himself.

Tamihere ran the innovative Waipareira Trust before entering Parliament in 1999. He said there had to be a cultural change to move from "victimhood to nationhood", with Maori proud of themselves as New Zealanders.

He might also have added that there needs also to be a cultural change in management of many Maori assets. This was a major finding in a generally positive report on the Maori economy for Te Puni Kokiri (the Ministry of Maori Development) by the Institute of Economic Research in February.

The ministers may encounter scepticism among Maori. None of the major recommendations of the first hui taumata were implemented in the form they were proposed and some were ignored.

That hui wanted a Maori development bank; a Maori authorities industry training board; a Maori economic development commission; amendments to planning acts so they did not frustrate Maori economic and cultural aspirations; and centralised information available to regional and tribal groups on development options. The then Maori Affairs Minister, Koro Wetere, and Prime Minister, David Lange, solemnly promised implementation.

Instead, Maori lost their jobs in droves as a result of economic restructuring and the corporatisation and sale of state commercial assets. Maori unemployment topped 20 per cent, reversing Wetere's injunction to the hui that Maori development must be faster than non-Maoris' in the short term.

This puts special weight on Clark's "opportunity" focus.

Horomia said younger Maori had been emerging in a range of businesses, including the cultural industries.

And the Institute of Economic Research report found that:

* The Maori economy is more profitable than the general economy, has a higher savings rate and is a net lender to the general economy.

* Maori households contribute more in tax than they receive in benefits and other fiscal transfers.

* The Maori economy grew faster between 1997 and 2002 than the general economy.

* The Maori economy is more exposed to international trade than the general economy.

* The apparent trade-off between Maoriness and economic success is mostly a failure of the existing institutions to reconcile the two better.

* There are difficulties getting finance but Maori institutions themselves could fill the gap.

* The return on equity and assets is lower than in the general economy, which reflects a need for big governance changes.