Government ministers have long sought solutions for the social problems that have emerged out of colonisation.
None have worked, and none will, despite truckloads of money being thrown at them until the root causes are understood.
So what is missing in Maori societies now, that was present during first contact?
Modern government think tanks, guided by Maori experts, have finally pin-pointed the main constant and it turns out to be the hundreds of educational sports and pastimes, known collectively as Nga Taonga Takaro, which reinforced behavioural norms, values and attitudes.
Games education was considered by Maori to be a punawhaka-tupu-tangata - a wellspring for everyone in a village. The historic strength of traditional tribal life depended on how such pastimes were utilised as strategies and social mechanisms to increase the diversity of physical movement, to develop mental agility, to reinforce social norms and to connect spiritually with the environment.
The answer has really been right under our noses since 1925, when Elsdon Best published the seminal Games and Pastimes of the Maori and the likes of Te Puea Herangi and others encouraged traditional sports revivals. But the obvious has been overlooked by officials for a long time.
These philosophies and values, once practised daily, with traditional ball play such as ki-o-rahi, tapuwae, ti-uru, poi toa and hakariki, with whai, potaka, koruru, mu torere, pakaukau, hipi toi toi, moari and the like, grounded Maori in the basic qualities of arohatanga and manaakitanga - love and hospitality.
Associated legends, rituals, korero, atuatanga and karakia reinforced the normality of loving and caring for those under one's guardianship.
The word kai, so often referred to as "food", is also the word that applies to learning achieved through game playing. It is this ethos of kai that needs urgent rejuvenation.
Maori games historically transposed essential values associated with good parenting and behaviour in the home - qualities that are elusive for many caregivers. The societies Maori founded on game playing also produced populations with better health and longer life expectancies than the early Europeans and, according to Governor George Grey, "superior intelligence".
Prominent Maori lawyer Annette Sykes says such games philosophies are powerful institutions that should be integrated into law. She is leading a Treaty of Waitangi claim based on that premise. This realisation has been the catalyst for many of the government's latest health and sports initiatives.
Sport NZ reflects this importance with their latest traditional games investments through their He Oranga Poutama networks. Their most up-to-date physical activity model, Te Whetu Rehua, positions Nga Taonga Takaro at the core of Maori identity. The games, when layered with their associated philosophies, have potent learning outcomes. These reinforce as the games are repeated and further developed.
Schools are being primed as the first stop, cultural shop for Maori students to experience historically important Nga Taonga Takaro. Culturally inclusive school principals are increasingly budgeting for sports trusts and health agencies to deliver traditional games programmes to their students. Waikato University educationalist Russell Bishop says that educational initiatives targeted for Maori will equally benefit non-Maori, so this is a win-win for all concerned.
This is a far cry from the 1920s and 30s when Peter Buck, the noted Maori ethnologist, first lamented the lessening importance of Nga Taonga Takaro. With the demographic shifting of Maori away from their marae to towns and cities, and schools banning Maori games, Buck foresaw the crisis that has now eventuated.
In a speech delivered at the National Taonga Takaro hui last week, Tariana Turia, Associate Minister of Health, acknowledged the investment of her department into educational Maori games as part of Whanau Ora. She said, "I really support the concept of Nga Taonga Takaro as an opportunity to grasp on to our tikanga and kaupapa, and our practices as a means of connecting with what it means to be Maori. The revival of Nga Taonga Takaro, helps our rangatahi to dream big, and then we must all take up that opportunity to support them to achieve those dreams."
Many Maori elders say the revival of Nga Taonga Takaro will produce significant benefits to society, far exceeding the Te Reo Maori programmes, and at a fraction of the cost. Native speaker Hau Hereora, a Ngati Hine kaumatua, who recollects his boyhood days ensconced in manu, hikoi and pumanawa says: "Our games are highly intellectual and technologically diverse, they make you think. It's all there, the reo, the wairua, the kaupapa, and connections to Papatuanuku ... it's all in Nga Taonga Takaro."
Okauia Te Tapuke's words, ushered in 1891 during the opening of his games wananga, Ahurewarotomahana, seem wiser now than ever.
"Keep the treasured educational games of our ancestors close by - it is essential that they be cherished."
