Manu Ao Academy Seminar – ‘Māori Development’

As we gather here today in this inter-university Maori Academy for academic and professional advancement, it is probably not known that across the world a partnership has been established, which will have enduring meaning for our nation.

This very day, Wednesday 18 November, in the Gothenburg National History Museum and the Museum of World Culture, both in Sweden, our tupuna are being repatriated in a unique transfer negotiated by Te Papa.

Along with other museums and institutions in Wales, Scotland and Ireland; our köiwi tangata (skeletal remains) and toi moko (tattooed preserved heads) are being repatriated, to be welcomed home to the marae at Te Papa on 30 November.

It is about coming home; it is about Maori scholarship; it is about Maori development.

Māori development spans across generations; across centuries.  

It promotes social equity and cultural affirmation, while at the same time inspiring us and stimulating the context of economic self sufficiency.

In other words, it is development according to Māori aspirations.

The return of our ancestors from the museums and institutions of Europe to their own land is one strand of development - restoring connections; valuing our taonga; engaging in international negotiations for something at the essence of our cultural heritage.

Maori development can operate on many realms and be evident in many different scenarios.

Ngati Wahiao, Tuhourangi and Te Arawa academic, Maggie Papakura, was a classic example of the broadest possible interpretation of Maori development.

From an early age, Maggie had the privilege of being immersed in Màori knowledge and customs from the elders in her whanau.  She later took on the role as Guide Maggie at Whakarewarewa. 

Tourism was the village's main economic base and Makereti quickly become a trailblazer, attracting visitors to learn about Māori culture, performing arts, artefacts within the unique geothermal landscape.

She later formed a choir, a concert party and in 1910 set out for London for the coronation festivities of King George V.  She took with her a carved house from Whakarewarewa, along with artefacts and ornaments

In 1912 Makereti married an Oxfordshire farmer, thereby becoming part of the Oxfordshire gentry and ultimately an Oxford University student: believed to be the first Māori woman to do so. 

Tragically, just weeks before her thesis examination in 1930, she died.

However, her work, The Old Time Màori, remains a significant scholarly reference source, and nowadays we can not only read her original work and books about her unique legacy; but we can even visit an on-line and a gallery exhibition at the National Library.

Makeriti - her life and her legend - epitomise the wide political, social, economic, spiritual and cultural dimensions that are part and parcel of Maori development today.

When sharing his thinking about the purpose of economic development for aboriginals of Canada as early as 1999, Anderson described it as threefold. It is about:

1. Attaining economic self-sufficiency as a necessary condition for realising self-government.
   
2. Improving the socio-economic circumstances of Aboriginal people.
   
3. Preserving and strengthening traditional culture, values and languages and reflecting the same in development activities

Makereti reflected all three of these aspects, both as an entrepreneur, a tourist guide; an academic, a performer; a historian, a leader.

These three factors posed by Anderson appear to be just as relevant to our setting as they are to his. 

Yes, economic development is critical.  But our progress can not be accomplished without having regard for our values and the realities of modern Māori living.

Gaining control of land and resources is fundamental to improving the socio-economic circumstances of indigenous peoples.

And a robust, sustainable economy is regarded as essential to self-determination and the exercise of a measure of real control over the relationship between indigenous people and non-indigenous governments.

But all the assets in the world will be valueless if the people have lost the very essence of who they are.

As we advance our position across society, we need to do so in ways that honour our unique values within our traditional environments while meeting the challenges of our contemporary experiences.  

Our history reminds us that we have an inherent and acquired trading capacity and a culture that is well suited to transactions in growing markets. We are curious and increasingly willing to diversify. We are unique and we have dual world skills.

But our edge comes not just from the sharpness of our scholarship or the strengths of our alliances between Maori academics and professionals. 

Our edge is in the quality of Maori leadership, based on our kaupapa and our tikanga; with our whanau, hapu and iwi driving our development forward.

And I think of one of the whakatauaki that was sent by you in one of the Monday motivators:

Tangata akona ki te kāinga, tungia ki te marae, tau ana
If a man is taught at his home,

he will stand with confidence on the marae,
conducting himself properly, confidently and competently.

If we truly want to develop as a people, we must invest the time and effort into our mokopuna, to enable their leadership potential to flourish.   Just as our tupuna did before us, we must cherish learning as involving the whole whanau, education being, in fact, a lifelong responsibility for the whanau.

In former years, the focus may have been on building waka, weaving garments, growing food, reading the tides, learning the appropriate karakia; looking after siblings.

 In today's context, our focus may be on investing in a diverse education and training programme; focusing on enterprise or leveraging off existing resources.

It is about having meaningful control of a robust and sustainable Māori economy; ‘doing more, with less, to achieve more'.

One of the outcomes of the Māori Economic Workshop earlier this year had a strong focus on promoting trades training and skills for Māori. That is one of the lead initiatives of the Taskforce that I established.

Essentially this is about creating an environment.

We are doing this by bringing together Māori providers, iwi/ Māori incorporations and existing providers of Trade Training to develop Māori Trade Training programmes, using the assets and programmes of existing providers and Māori PTEs, wānanga or other Māori providers, with financial support from iwi organisations for student fees and resources.

We have also been focused on improving Māori asset and capital productivity and utilisation, and creating opportunities to partner with the Crown in strategic infrastructure investments.

The greatest opportunity for the restoration of the heart of the people lies not in how big the contract under negotiation; or how easily we can put up budget proposals.  The greatest opportunity lies in each other, and our differing but similar approaches to unity.

To that end, the Taskforce met with iwi leaders to develop a framework for iwi investment and inter-iwi collaboration, including a tikanga based approach to iwi investment.  We also commissioned a paper on pooling assets to increase Private Public Partnership opportunities for Māori investment and training and employment opportunities.

So the challenge ahead of us al in Maori development, is not just the rigour of our strategic plan or the viability of the balance sheet.  Maori development - through its very initiatives - also serves to re-weave or reconnect whānau back into the tribal whariki, a human mat built on strong whānau relationships

And I want to finish by drawing our attention to Homefire Burning, a Roots Rock Reggae band from the Kapiti coast.  This band represents the respect of the musicians for the ahi kaa - or the home fire.   As mana whenua - the keepers of the flame -band have a message to keep stoking the fire to burn strong.

Their hope is that this message, and I quote,

"will inspire people to rise up against oppression, to make a difference, think freely, and most importantly respect everyone".

We recognise that the Māori response to the global recession was very much motivated by this collective drive towards achieving our aspirations as whānau.

We are resilient and flexible  - our approach to Māori participation and investment decisions is highly innovative.

We are changing and adapting in order to stay relevant in this new innovation economy.

And we know that Māori development is ultimately about our total wellbeing.  It is about leading independent, self-fulfilling lives, upholding dignity and standing proudly and rightfully in our place as tangata whenua of Aotearoa.

In this short presentation I have drawn on four very different case studies of Maori development  - the repariation of our ancestral remains; the scholarship and cultural heritage of Makareti; the establishment of Maori and iwi trade training; and a rock band.

If I was to browse over the seminar series Manu Ao have embraced of this auspicious academy -our knowledge of Maori development would extend even further to include:

• o reclaiming the use of Māori place names


• o Māori astronomy


• o the foreshore and seabed


• o Google's translation technology and te reo


• o water management


• o mātauranga Māori


• o the Māori contribution to World War II


• o Māori representation and the Auckland Supercity

It is a truly rich picture of the fullness of experience, the breadth of knowledge and scholarship we hope Manu Ao will continue to promote.

Ultimately it is for the benefit of our people; the benefit of Aotearoa; and the benefit of all our mokopuna that will follow after us.

Tena tatou katoa.