Hon Tariana Turia - 'If it is to be it is up to us'

The Hugo Group Limited; Breakfast Meeting; Hyatt Regency, Auckland Hon Tariana Turia, Co-leader of the Maori Party Thursday 18 November 2010; 7.30am (speaking notes for the basis of a conversation)

The other night members of an iwi with concerns ranging from fisheries, conservation and treaty settlement issues, travelled for some hours to attend a meeting in my office.

Accompanying them, was a small boy, no more than ten years of age. Thinking that the deliberations in a hui with Ministers would probably not be that thrilling, we set him up in front of a TV set, to pass away the time.

While he worked the remote, he raised a few conversation starters.

He asked about the impact of the American Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton; noting his whakapapa connection to Kura Moeahu, kaiwhakarite for Parliament, who had greeted her at the front steps of the Beehive.

He mused about the current position in the popularity polls for Barack Obama.

He asked about the reaction within our caucus, about the Minister for Treaty Settlement’s responses to the occupation of Ngati Kahu at Taipa.

And then in the next breath he wondered why my office TV didn’t have a cartoon network channel.

It was immediately obvious to me, that this small child was someone who had been empowered to trust in his own thought leadership.

He had an active interest in the world around him and the developments abroad; he was confident in his understanding of the practice of Maori culture, knowledge and values as just part of his life – and he enjoyed a good laugh much like any other little boy in this land.

What will our future be like for him?

In 2010, one in every four babies born is tangata whenua.

And from what we know of the demographic projections, there will be more and more tamariki Maori ready to shape our future. The Asian, Pacific and Māori ethnic groups are growing faster and will increase their share of the New Zealand population. In other words, Aotearoa is browning up.

Are we ready for a browner world? What will it mean for New Zealanders from predominantly European backgrounds?

In pure statistical terms, the Māori population has a high growth rate (average annual increase of 1.4 percent) relative to non-Māori (average annual increase of 0.7 percent). The Māori population has a younger age structure, with a relatively large proportion in the main reproductive ages. All of this provides built-in momentum for future population growth.

And so I am really delighted that you have asked me along today, to think about the ways in which the vibrancy of whanau Maori is supported to help shape the whole social sector – and indeed the wider economy.

And I want to refer back to a comment made by the outgoing chair of the New Zealand Business Roundtable, Ngati Porou business leader, Rob McLeod. In an address at Te Papa last year he said,

“The current and increasing relative population of Maori mean that Maori are very significant to the New Zealand economy, both today and tomorrow. Furthermore the economic and social wellbeing of Maori and non-Maori are interdependent.

An economically affluent Maori people will enhance the economic prospects of non-Maori. Conversely an underperforming Maori population will hinder the progress of non-Maori”.

It makes such simple sense, but it is an argument which is predicated on the view that being Maori matters – and that is not always an argument that some sectors of our society care for.

And I have to say, that it is with some amazement that I have learnt that the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Northland Chamber of Commerce are billed as supporters on the website of the Coastal Coalition.

This is the coalition, which is promulgating views about what they describe as the actions of "Pakeha Maori", and I quote, “who want to exploit their Maori genetic inheritance politically in order to build a racist apartheid state”.

I do have to wonder how a business network could be associated with such divisive and negative views – but that’s, I guess, for them to explain.

I have no interest in adding to this deficit discourse.

But it does provide us all with the fundamental challenge of our time – and that is the opportunity to change attitudes and to restore the sense of value that all our people need to achieve.

When you have people valuing themselves it reaps enormous benefits, both economically and socially, for the development of our country. It is about measuring wellbeing, valuing our unique contribution, and establishing the expectation that our people are our greatest wealth.

Over the last couple of decades, a developing body of knowledge has emerged to quantify and measure the wellbeing of whanau, hapu and iwi. Professor Whatarangi Winiata, back in 1988, first raised the notion of emphasizing cultural capital and tribal histories alongside of human and economic considerations.

And in 2006, Professor Mason Durie gave a lecture to the New Zealand Treasury, which demonstrated ways in which we might assess the collective wealth of whanau, in terms of their capacity to care, the capacity for consensus; their ability to manage the whanau estate; the empowerment of individuals to participate in society; or the ability to plan for the longterm prosperity of future generations.

And there was special recognition of the value of Maori culture; knowledge and worldviews as an integral foundation for maximum wellbeing.

All of this intellectual and conceptual inspiration has been going on within such organs of the state as the Treasury – and yet at the same time, we know only too well there is a history in this land of state agencies and community organisations who have developed an industry out of the misery that families find themselves in.

And so we find ourselves in 2010 – on the brink of such a promising future – yet too often restricted by fragmented, inconsistent and multiple interventions which fail to address the needs of whanau.

We have inherited a complex system of contracting in which outputs have been prioritised over outcomes; providers are forced into competition with one another; transaction costs are high and in short, a lot of time has been spent with a considerable investment in funding and yet little in return.

This then, is the context with which Whanau Ora has entered the national conversation.

A couple of weeks ago I announced the selection of some 25 provider collectives consisting of 158 providers right across the country.

It was a most amazing day, in which we witnessed a new mood of cooperation and collaboration from providers; the spirit of trust from government; and the enthusiasm of whanau to make the difference.

And I want to share with you the slogan on a tshirt that summed up this initiative in just a few words. Ten days ago, we welcomed a roopu to Parliament who had just completed a three-day bike ride from Hastings through freezing southerlies.

These were not champion cyclists by any means. Many of the cyclists weighed in at over 100kg before they came together, to achieve the collective aspiration for a new approach to a healthy life.

Boldly blazened on their chests was the slogan, ‘If it is to be; it is up to me”.

And it struck a chord with me about what we are hoping to achieve with Whanau Ora.

Over the years, we have slowly but surely shifted the dependence and the confidence that our people placed in their own whanau, to the social sector. Where once we were reliant on ourselves, we have turned that reliance on to others. In some of our families we have lost the connection, the responsibilities and the obligations that we once would have expected our whanau to provide.

Indeed, the state has almost become the defacto family.

I am firmly of the view that the state and the social sector should be the support of the last resort – not occupying the pride of place at the front of the line.

Our greatest opportunity is to restore the confidence in ourselves, that our families can do for themselves, and with the right support systems that they can generally provide for their own best interests.

Who better to know what is best for our families, than ourselves?

And so the transformation I am seeking, is about the attitude of gratitude that appreciates the very essence of who we are.

It is about re-vitalising that powerful sense of self-belief that I saw in the energy of that little boy in my office this week.

It is about all of us believing that we offer unique and distinctive riches to our country’s prosperity. It is about demonstrating we place value on the Maori heart; and that participating in te ao Maori, is a fundamental factor in our wellbeing.

Our aspirations for Whanau Ora are to build whanau capability, to strengthen whanau connections, to support the development of whanau leadership and to enhance best outcomes for whanau.

I am in no doubt that over time we will see more and more whanau empowered to take control over their future; and that this transformation can only be positive for Aotearoa New Zealand. And perhaps then we will all be proud to say, ‘If it is to be; it is up to us”.
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