Speech: Katene - How to Thrive in a Famine
te-pati-maori
Tue Jun 16 2009 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)
Speech: Katene - How to Thrive in a Famine
Tuesday, 16 June 2009, 4:52 pm
Speech: The Maori Party
Budget 2009 or How to Thrive in a Famine
rahui katene, mp for te tai tonga
Tuesday 16 June 2009; 3.30pm
The context for Budget 2009 had been forewarned for months leading up to the 28th May.
The December economic and fiscal forecasts had made it clear that the operating position for Government was likely to become dramatically weakened. This would then lead on to the Government having far less flexibility and reduced spending from the public purse.
These forecasts, combined with the threat from Standard and Poor that New Zealand needed to achieve a stable position created the circumstance by which no-one was expecting 2009 to be the year of the great lolly scramble.
True to form, Budget 2009 delivered upon expectation with priorities and policies that might generously be described as thrifty.
For Maori the context of recession is double edged.
We are well aware that in uncertain times Maori have been vulnerable to the changing market. In the Great Depression some 40% of the unemployed were Maori. More recently, the economic downturn of the 1970s and later 1995 impacted even more on poorer Maori – with unemployment being triple that for non-Maori.
But we know too, that out of periods of hardship, Maori have demonstrated remarkable resilience and a flair for entrepreneurship which has meant they are in a better position to take advantage of the economic recovery when it eventually appears.
This Budget, then, had to respond to both the need to help people survive the recession while at the same time create opportunities to grow and prosper.
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It was not a choice of Sink or Swim; it was a choice to tread water while preparing the ground to develop.
Such an approach finds favour with many of our people who have developed knowledge of economic management, out of necessity.
There is a theory about the connection between indigenous people and the so-called ‘thrifty gene’.
The theory is that over many generations, indigenous peoples farmed, hunted, fished and gathered food. In doing so, they experienced periods of feast and famine. To adapt to this changing need the thrifty gene emerged which enabled our people to survive long voyages across seas.
And so here in 2009, whether it’s the application of the thrifty gene or the law of necessity, Maori have earnt the reputation of thriving in an enterprise and entrepreneur culture. Not because we want to; because we have to.
In Budget 2009 these skills will come into their own, with the twelve million dollars of new funding to phase in Maori development projects in housing such as Papakainga housing or the Maori demonstration projects.
Our message to iwi Maori will be to get in there and take up the opportunities to partner with Housing New Zealand to create job opportunities in developing affordable housing initiatives.
We will expect that employment or contractual opportunities would be realised in contracts with iwi or Maori groups when it comes to building or renovating the houses; and we will continue to talk with the Minister of Housing to take this approach.
There’s the investment going into increased infrastructure and we, again, would expect that iwi Maori will benefit from both construction jobs in the short term and in the longer term, through the evident gains in the lifting of economic growth.
And of course the commitment of 15.9 million dollars to settle outstanding Treaty settlements over aquaculture and the additional 22 million dollars to speed up claims in the Treaty settlement area are both new injections of funding that we wholeheartedly support.
But of course it is not all good news in Budget 2009, and we know the toughest times are yet to come.
This Budget is set against a background in which Te Puni Kokiri is predicting Maori unemployment will rise to between twelve to fifteen percent by the middle of next year.
It is also set against the reality of a decline of some 700 jobs for Maori working in the construction sector; a thirteen percent decline for Maori working in the primary industry; and a 16.7 percent decline in accommodation, cafes and restaurant jobs.
This is the real bread and butter gauge by which we will measure how genuine this Government actually is, towards achieving significant outcomes in whanau ora for Maori.
We need to retain employment and we need to create employment options for our people, where there currently appear none.
But we need to do more than that too.
Maori hourly wage earnings at $17.58 still lag way behind the economy wide average of $21.41.
We want to see tangible outcomes which address the systemic failure of more than half of Māori students leaving school without completing a sixth-form qualification.
And we are particularly concerned about the disproportionately high number of young Maori who are being left behind. It should be a national crisis that there are close to five thousand young Maori between the ages of 18 and 24 who are currently on the jobseeker register with Work and Income.
We are outraged at the savage cuts that were made in the adult and community education area – an area which has formed a key pathway for many of our people, in re-entering an education system which has failed them in the past.
On Budget Day it was announced that some $54.45 million would be withdrawn, supposedly the funding subsidy for ‘hobby’ courses.
There is huge concern within the sector about this. Adult and community education programmes help to restore the confidence of students which can then help them to further their work/life options while at the same time, rectify any deficiencies in skills.
Budget 2009 attempts to respond to this situation in a couple of ways.
Firstly it boosts Māori Affairs funding to support families vulnerable during the recession. Whānau Social Assistance Services will receive $32 million and for that we congratulate the Minister, my colleague Dr Sharples, for his initiative in targeting those who need it most.
There are other opportunities in which our vulnerable families will be supported during these times of inevitable hardship.
I want to congratulate my other colleague, Hon Tariana Turia, for her leadership in allocating new funding to help those many people who care for their whanau and friends who may be ill, frail or disabled.
The previous Government delivered a carers strategy, but forgot or failed to put aside any money to actually make the difference.
Mrs Turia has been able to invest in a resource to ensure people who are looking after their relatives are not actually penalized – but more properly, supported to be able to provide the care their whanau require.
And of course the forty million dollars set aside in the Community Response Fund to support voluntary groups to provide services to those most vulnerable to the recession will also be a resource that we know our people will be able to rely on.
But while these initiatives may help to cushion the shock, the initiative that we are probably holding out the greatest hope for, is the potential we know will emerge from the Māori Economic Taskforce established by Dr Sharples.
The $10 million spent in this area may well see tangata whenua positioned in a strong and secure state to take advantage of any opportunities which will flow on as the global economy recovers.
The future looks much brighter for the leadership being developed by the Maori Economic Taskforce in
* managing tribal assets;
* advancing economic growth and infrastructure initiatives;
* leading education, trade training and ICT;
* encouraging small to medium enterprises;
* nurturing investment and enterprise;
* and taking the primary sector to new heights.
This taskforce is a classic example of one of our oft-quoted beliefs – nau te rourou, naku te rourou, ka ora ai te iwi. By sharing our gifts with one another, the people will thrive.
We believe that the inspiration and example being shown by the way in which Maori will approach these times, will indeed, be a gift for Aotearoa. The impetus to take up every opportunity while also caring for the collective wellbeing of the people, is what we in the Maori Party have every confidence will also be of great benefit to the nation.
ENDS
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