Māori in Australia reluctant to lose ties to home
te-pati-maori
Sat Sep 29 2007 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)
Māori in Australia reluctant to lose ties to home
Saturday, 29 September 2007, 2:16 pm
Press Release: The Maori Party
29 September 2007 Media Statement
Embargoed until 6am
Māori in Australia reluctant to lose ties to ‘home’
About one in seven Māori now live in Australia but the majority still regard New Zealand as the home they will return to live in, a significant new report released today by Māori Affairs Minister Parekura Horomia finds.
The Te Puni Kōkiri report Māori in Australia - Ngā Māori i Te Ao Moemoeā reveals that Māori, like other New Zealanders, are a truly trans-national people, Mr Horomia said.
Mr Horomia launched the report at Australia’s largest Māori sports event – the Ngā Hau e Whā New South Wales Māori Rugby League Tournament in Sydney.
It is based on research undertaken by Te Puni Kōkiri’s policy manager Paul Hamer while a visiting fellow in the Department of Politics and Public Policy at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia, in 2006.
“This report gives the most accurate picture yet of just how many Māori there are in Australia, why they went there, how they’re faring. It also throws up the interesting finding that while over 100,000 Māori now live and work in another country, they still consider themselves to be Māori and for most, they still call New Zealand ‘home’.
"Māori have been moving across the Tasman to Australia almost as long as long as we have known it was there. In the early days of the penal colony in New South Wales Māori visited for trading purposes. More recently they have gone for work, adventure, and to link up with family.
“But as this report highlights, comparatively few have taken up Australian citizenship and most still regard Aotearoa as the home to which they will return some day.”
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”While many Māori have for whānau and other reasons opted to remain in Australia permanently, I have taken the opportunity today to highlight the much improved labour market conditions at home and what I believe is the renaissance of Māori art, language education, business and culture we are also experiencing."
"I'm saying: "if you're thinking about coming home, think about it seriously - because many of you will have skills which could play a valuable part in this renaissance."
The research included a 50 question online and hard-copy survey filled in by 1205 Māori living across Australia. Over 400 other Māori were met or interviewed during research fieldwork carried out by Mr Hamer.
The resulting report includes the history of Māori contact with Australia; the reasons Māori give for moving across the Tasman; the jobs they have been drawn to; their integration into the Australian community; their attempts to build community infrastructure and maintain the practice of their culture; their sense of being different from Māori in New Zealand; and the challenges that go with being Māori overseas.
Some of the other interesting findings from the report include:
Māori appear not to view themselves as immigrants in Australia (especially ethnic migrants like the Vietnamese, Greeks and others). Nearly 80 percent of respondents ‘agreed’ or ‘strongly agreed’ that Māori in Australia fit much more easily into mainstream Australian society than immigrants from other countries.
The stereotype of New Zealanders sunning themselves on Bondi Beach or the Gold Coast while collecting the dole appears to be fading. Indeed, some Māori reported encountering the inverse of the ‘dole-bludger’ stereotype, that New Zealanders had come to Australia to take jobs off Australian workers.
Over 70 percent of survey respondents said they believe Māori in Australia are more motivated to get ahead than Māori in New Zealand. Many respondents also believed that Māori in New Zealand see them as ‘plastic’, ‘rich’ or ‘deserters’.
Many Māori in Australia said they missed their extended family structure. As a result, some said they had taken on new notions of ‘whānau’. Over 60 percent of respondents defined whānau as including ‘family and relatives plus other Māori you live and/or work and/or socialise with in Australia”. Some broadened their concept of whānau beyond even Māori.
While many Māori in Australia feel the need to learn te reo more than they ever did in New Zealand, interviews and Census results suggest that use and knowledge of te reo Māori in Australia has been steadily declining. However, one cause for optimism is that there are many Māori in Australia who want to learn. Over 50 percent of respondents said they would ‘probably’ or ‘definitely’ learn te reo in the coming year.
A high proportion of Māori indicated that they will return to New Zealand, or at least, intended to return. Māori in Australia – despite it being a country to which New Zealanders tend to migrate permanently – are much more set on returning to New Zealand than predominantly professional Pākeha New Zealanders spread throughout the world (as revealed by the 2006 Kea survey). In other words, Māori overseas appear to feel the pull of home stronger than other New Zealanders.
ends
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