KEY POINTS:
Maori artists should be wary of the free trade agreement with China because they are about to be swamped by mass production, a Victoria University academic says.
Maori business senior lecturer Aroha Mead said that despite recent gains in protecting intellectual property, there was huge risk inherent in the deal.
"We've entered an agreement with the world's largest abusers of intel-lectual property - they're renowned for pirating and copying - why on earth do we think this is good for us?
"They're able to produce at a rate we can't compete with. Maori cultural products are at a real risk of getting swamped."
There was also the chance that the "toi iho" trademark developed by Government agency Creative New Zealand to protect quality Maori arts and crafts would become devalued.
"Think back 20 years, the market was flooded with cheap products - the old chief on a teatowel, all those terrible examples. We've moved beyond that, but it's taken a lot of conscious effort. In five years we'll be swamped."
She backed Foreign Minister Winston Peters' view that New Zealand did not get enough out of the deal. Art and music were most at risk.
"It's very rare I agree with Winston Peters but I think he's absolutely right. I think New Zealand is being incredibly naive."
But some of those at the centre of Maori tourism support the deal.
Rotorua deputy mayor Trevor Maxwell said the market already had plenty of cheap products available, irrespective of the trade deal.
"As regards our Maori artists, while China might be very good at copying many of our things, I still think there are some safeguards that will ensure our New Zealand artists will benefit. "
People knew when products were authentic, he said.
"I think the artists have to be Maori - that's a safeguard there.
"My own brother Hepi is a greenstone carver. People want to buy his products and sometimes they go to him personally. Hey, we've had the plastic tikis around for a long time, they're shocking, who buys them?"
New Zealand was in a prime position to capitalise on the enormous Chinese market, he said.
"I'd rather be on the bus than standing at the bus stop watching other countries drive past."
Because the creative Maori sector is a relatively new industry, no firm figures exist about its value to the economy.
But Garry Nicholas, the generalmanager of Toi Maori, which promotes artists and their work, said it was likely to be significant - in 2003, during a week-long exhibition a Canadian gallery sold $1 million of Maori art. It now accounts for 22 per cent of that gallery's business.
While there were relevant concerns about intellectual property rights, he said, Toi Maori had developed strategies to enforce copyright.
