Parekura Horomia: Learning holds key to Maori future

Parekura Horomia

Just over twenty years ago I attended the first Hui Taumata as one of the youth representatives. We have come a long way since 1984. We strived to be recognised as a people with a distinct language and distinctive cultural markers. Under the leadership that emerged over that period, substantive gains were made in expanding opportunities.

The message of the first Hui Taumata was that Maori had to be empowered to initiate, design and deliver their own solutions. "By Maori for Maori" has had its greatest impact on the survival of our language and culture. Hundreds of young people have emerged from institutions like te kohanga reo and are now coming out of secondary school including kura kaupapa with a high degree of fluency and with a knowledge and understanding of who they are.

In the mid-eighties the Te Maori exhibition toured the USA to international acclaim and then came home to be seen for the first time by many New Zealanders. Maori writers and artists came into greater prominence. The eyes of the world, indeed the eyes of New Zealand, were suddenly opened.

The establishment of the Maori Television Service now brings Maori language and culture every day into the nation's homes.

The position of Maori language and culture in the modern world is now assured.

The first Hui Taumata also saw a sound economic base as crucial in shifting from dependency and in ensuring our social and economic survival. Highlights on the economic front have been the growth in capability of Maori managers and the accompanying asset base that has occurred, the increase in the number of Maori who own their own businesses and the rise of the Maori corporates and their engagement with other businesses.

By far the biggest earner and contribution Maori make to the economy is participation in the labour market. Maori households earn $4.3 billion in wages and salaries each year. Maori unemployment is down to an all-time low. Over 90 per cent of all Maori who can work are working.

Maori enterprise is still on the move. Over the last three years Maori exceeded non-Maori in the total entrepreneurial activity stakes. Many Maori entrepreneurs continue to express their confidence and optimism about business opportunities.

Education continues to be a cornerstone of social development. The numbers of Maori studying at and graduating from tertiary institutions has grown considerably.

We have to keep moving forward. We cannot lose momentum. We must be ready to embrace any new challenges ahead, such as the fact that today there are approximately 600,000 Maori in New Zealand. That's one in seven people. By 2021 it's estimated we will number 800,000. That's one in every six New Zealanders.

Overall the New Zealand population is aging. There will be fewer young people to fill jobs and drive the economy, making Maori capability a key driver in the future economic well-being of New Zealand.

The number of our people in the main working ages (15-64 years) is projected to increase 34 per cent from 350,000 in 2001 to 468,000 in 2021.

Staggering as it sounds, it is estimated that our untapped employment potential is around $45 billion. That's about five times the value of our tangible assets.

There is no place for complacency. We are not an island unto ourselves. We are part of a nation and part of an increasingly interconnected world.

For our own future protection, we need to raise our educational standards, enhance and diversify our skills and ensure that we are more evenly distributed across all areas of the labour market. The reason that we suffered so greatly from the economic reforms in the 1980s was that our workforce was concentrated in low and semi-skilled jobs in Railways, Ministry of Works and other departments affected by the restructuring, and in the processing industries.

If there was one single factor that motivated me to take the journey into politics, it had to be the memory of that event. To see thousands upon thousands of our people rendered unemployed by the restructuring of the state sector and all within two to three years of the first Hui Taumata was heartbreaking and it is something that I would not want to see repeated.

I, for one, have some doubts about our preparedness. Devolution has brought with it some negative by-products, fragmentation and a lack of focus in particular. The proliferation of Maori provider organisations and the competition among them for Government and other contracts is an example of fragmentation.

In looking at some of the programmes that are being run, I have to ask myself, have we not simply replaced the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff and what does the proliferation suggest about dependency?

We must work with others rather than in isolation. Partnerships, collaboration and networking are going to be critical to our development in the future.

Effective governance will be vital. We know governance for many Maori collectives is complex because of the inability of members to trade out of their membership, the communal nature of ownership and the role of kaitiaki for future generations.

We know from international studies that governance structures that are culturally attuned are more likely to achieve success. We want Maori collectives to have access to governance structures that enable Maori to succeed as Maori.

We must build the capability now amongst our young. Many gathered here are, like me, the products of the last generation of manual labourers. We were neither close to sciences and academia nor upper level management. It is therefore critical that we ensure that we have a succession plan to ensure future success.

It is critical that our young achieve in education at the highest level and are not constrained by our horizons.

If we want our youth to be brokers in the modern world, then we must focus on outcomes and not be trapped by our own rhetoric.

In closing I urge you to consider that culture should not be left to remain static. We enjoy the many advances that progress into the 21st century has offered us. We live in a modern democratic society where there is every opportunity within our grasp. We must take up these opportunities.