TE WANANGA O AOTEAROA, STUDENT COUNCIL HUI , RAROERA CAMPUS; SATURDAY 25 SEPTEMBER; 11AM

Tariana Turia, Co-Leader, Maori Party

‘Innovation within Tradition: There’s no room for Doubt’

Kia koutou Tainui waka, ka nui te mihi kia a koutou mo to powhiri ki a matou.

E nga iwi e huihui nei ki te whakanui i te kaupapa o te ra, tena koutou katoa.

E nga rangatira o Te Wananga o Aotearoa, e nga tauira, e nga whanau, tena hoki koutou.

I was really excited by the invitation to attend your hui, to become inspired by your vision, to be revitalised by the momentum that has become synonomous with Te Wananga o Aotearoa.

I was also really fascinated by the initiative to establish a student union, and the process by which you knew the time was right.

Of course, it’s not like this is the first time that Te Wananga o Aotearoa has had a good idea.

Indeed, right back in 1984, when the Waipa Kökiri Centre in Te Awamutu was built, this institution has derived its status from a vision born of the aspirations of our people.

It was born from a vision to provide learning and employment opportunities for the increasing number of tangata whenua with little or no job skills or qualifications.

Look at you now!

As at 31 July 2003, 23,468 ‘full-time equivalent’ Maori students were enrolled at this wananga, almost six times the number of Maori students enrolled with the next largest provider. That’s 63,000 people in real numbers.

What’s more in some of Aotearoa’s programmes, up to 80% of participants have not been involved in tertiary education before enrolling at the Wananga. That’s a vision in action alright.

So the vision obviously came at the right time.

It was an idea whose time had come.

Today I salute those ideas, the dreamers who have implemented them, the students who have embraced them, the mentors and whanau who have nurtured their development.

The ideas embrace our learning from our tupuna, as well as embracing our Pacific whanaunga. I understand at this campus, there are successful pilot programmes for the Nautical Skills programmes, Kaihoe Waka and Kai’oe Vaka.

Te Wananga has also reached out across the global community through the influence of the Cuban-initiated Greenlight programme, and through taking part in the accreditation programme pioneered by the World Indigenous National Higher Education Consortium.

So with all those visions tucked under your belt, who would have any doubt about the initiative you are taking here today, with the call for a student union.

Doubt is not a word in our vocabulary.

I recently read an interesting article by Taitamariki Mihaere and Ian McDonald which raised this concept of doubt . They said:

“There is an essential difference of perspective in Maori and Western cultures that has to do with the place of doubt in acquiring knowledge.

In Western thought there is always an element of possible doubt.

In Maori thought there is a time-hallowed certainty connecting us with the source of all knowledge. There is room for innovation within, not against, tradition. The acceptance of this proposition is crucial to Maori cultural life and educational process”.

It made a lot of sense to me, in thinking about you here, knowing it was the right time to establish a student body.

It made sense to me, in thinking about the right time for a Maori Political Movement to emerge.

We have had all manner of doubters questioning the wisdom of this time, this Party, this leader, this branch structure.

People have spoken about the lessons we could learn from Matiu Rata, the one-off capture of the Maori electorates by New Zealand First, or other Maori political movements that have been established in our history.

They have placed doubt upon our credibility when perhaps one of our 6000 members ‘has a past’, or perceived our right to express different points of view as representing conflict.

Rather than contemplate the possible doubt that could cast, we have proudly and resolutely stood our ground, honouring that ‘time-hallowed certainty’ that guides us in knowing the time is right.

What better time than now, with 63,000 of our people in tertiary education? According to Ministry of Education tertiary education statistics, Maori participation in tertiary education almost doubled from 1999 to 2003. The bulk of Maori tertiary enrolments are at wananga. Our people are taking informed steps to advance their own aspirations. The Maori Party recognises that and will actively work with them to ensure the movement takes on the visions and aspirations of learned scholars such as yourselves.

What better time than now, when tangata whenua have bounded ahead as one of the world's most entrepreneurial populations. According to the annual Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, ‘if Maori were a nation, it would be the fourth most entrepreneurial in the world’. Well tangata whenua nations are ready and willing to use their innovation and initiative to build a new political movement, a movement that not only builds on the certainty of Te Ao Maori, but which also provides a foundation for all those who have chosen to live in this land.

What better time than now, when our people have taken to the streets, acted on their instincts, and stood up for what they know to be right.

So on 23 May, when 300 people attended a hui at Hoani Waititi marae, and then on the next day, another 1300 attended a hui at Turangawaewae to learn about the Maori Party, there was no room for doubt.

Our people have said to us, that it is the right time to establish a party, Te kakano i ruia mai i Rangiatea, for the benefit of all people of this land.

You may have seen some of the minor parties over these last few weeks, trying to cast doubt with their allegations that we are separatist, and racially divisive.

Interesting then, that we have been meeting and communicating with Pacific communities, Muslim, Pakeha, Sri Lankan, Korean, and many other New Zealanders, who are attracted to the idea that our policies and practices derive from kaupapa tuku iho, and provide for the well-being of all.

I think that was what Taitamariki Mihaere and Ian McDonald were referring to;

‘There is room for innovation within, not against, tradition’

The innovation comes from knowing that we can achieve our vision of a nation of cultural diversity and richness, where unity is under-pinned by the expression of tangata whenuatanga.

Other doubters suggest that in looking at our traditional values and concepts, we get stuck, trapped in the past.

What all three wananga teach us about that, Te Wânanga o Raukawa, Te Whare Wânanga o Awanuiarangi, and Te Wânanga o Aotearoa, is that our world, our purakau, karakia, moteatea, whakatauki, whakapapa, tikanga, kawa, provide a rich source of sustenance to base our new learnings and discoveries.

Why else do you begin with karakia every morning?

Why is it that manaakitanga is demonstrated in the way you work together, treat each with respect, acknowledging the mana of others?

Why else is whanaungatanga valued and actively promoted in all your campuses?

These values instruct us how to achieve self-determination, to fully develop our potential, and live as tangata whenua within our own land.

These same values will no doubt be ones you return to, in establishing a student body.

This institution has already shown leadership in enacting our dreams and aspirations.

One of our key policy platforms in the Maori Party is that no one should be expected to pay fees for learning te reo rangatira, our official language of Aotearoa, the cornerstone of all that is tangata whenua.

Accelerating the revival of te reo is a central focus. Implicit in our support for matauranga Maori is the importance we place on te reo o nga rangatira as the essence of who we are.

Here at Aotearoa, you have already achieved that vision through the ‘zero-fee’ courses for te reo, which encourage participation as well as acknowledging the unique status of the language.

I’ve visited Te Wananga o Aotearoa campuses all over the motu. The philosophy of taking education to the people in towns as small as Huntly, Tokoroa and Te Kuiti has opened knowledge up to people who would never have dreamt of going to a mainstream university.

What I’m reminded of when I think of this organisation is our Poutama design on our tukutuku panels. The strengths of your foundations, the proud advances of your people, the platform your mahi provides into higher learning for tens of thousands of Maori who have never participated in tertiary education before.

And I can’t help getting excited.

We need your talents and experience to build the movement. We can shape a new design together, a design for our future which celebrates the place of ‘innovation within tradition’.

Our Movement must be a movement of tauira tangata whenua. You are the ones who will tell us what the issues are for tauira, and we are the ones who will listen. It’s inappropriate for politicians to define the issues and then propose the solution.

I have always operated from a community development model where I firmly believe that the definitions of issues and the solutions, lay with the people. The role of those of us who are part of the Parliamentary environment is to listen and to be guided, and to ensure that our policy reflects what people are telling us.

Our early policy thinking in this area is shaped around the concept that education is a basic right that we are all entitled to.

It comes down to the vision we have for the sort of society we want to live in – a society where education for liberation is valued as a critical step in rebuilding our nation.

I want to say to you, that we know we can make a difference.

We have made a stand to establish a better future for tangata whenua and tauiwi alike – in being prepared to participate in the initiatives of Te Wananga o Aotearoa, you have already shown you are going to stand up and be counted.

The solutions lie within us. They are about us. Tangata whenua determined solutions which give true effect to our search for tino rangatiratanga.

The table we sit at in the House of Representatives must become our table not their table. We must sit across the table in the Treaty based relationship that we signed up to when we were the majority. We must learn from our experience, and never treat others as we have been treated.

We must have meaningful Maori political representation where the Kaihoe Waka, the Kai’oe Vaka, the ocean cruiser that we travel on into the future is being driven by us. Where the songs that are being sung, are our songs. And the direction we are heading in, is a celebration of all that we can be.

Only through such change we can achieve the aspirations that unite us here today.

No reira, tena koutou, tena koutou, tena tatou katoa.

ENDS

© Scoop Media