Where There Is No Vision The People Perish
new-zealand-first-party
Mon Aug 09 2010 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)
Where There Is No Vision The People Perish
Monday, 9 August 2010, 9:24 am
Speech: New Zealand First Party
Rt. Hon Winston Peters
Leader NZ First
Address to: Victoria University
Te Herenga Waka Marae, Victoria University, Kelburn Parade
Monday 9 August 2010, 9.30am
“Where There Is No Vision The People Perish”
Many years ago at a time of unparalleled crisis in the history of Britain, a leader made a request as apposite for today’s Maori as it was for the peoples to whom he was speaking.
“Give us the tools and we will finish the job”
That desperate call came from someone who had repeatedly warned his country of the dire consequences of policies ill-suited to meet the developing crisis about to befall it.
His name of course was Churchill.
The history you know.
This workshop is about the Management of Maori Resources and Maori Development.
Presumably it concerns two sets of resources capable of becoming realised assets.
One is human, the other economic.
And almost two centuries on from the first putative steps towards a modern economy it’s important to reflect on what preceded us and that which still remains from efforts at Maori Development.
This address is about an initiative during those 190 years, which happened in 1990. Its title was Ka Awatea – “It’s Daytime.” “It’s Dawn, time to wake and wipe the flakes of sleep from our eyes”.
It was to be a revolutionary approach to Maori development of both human and economic capital.
Ka Awatea emerged from a backdrop of free market policies that had a most destructive effect both economically and socially on Maori.
Advertisement - scroll to continue reading
The policy prescription prior to Ka Awatea was a Treasury driven and politically accepted withdrawal from social and economic responsibilities of Government towards the disadvantaged.
This ideological position indeed saw no need for a Department of Maori Affairs and the then Minister of Finance, like her predecessor, was openly calling for it to be disbanded.
The Ka Awatea Report was completed over the three months of Christmas 1990 and New Year ’91 after widespread discussion with Maori, who were asked what it was that they believed was wrong and what it would take to fix it.
The leadership of Maori was given a clear commitment.
“You promise to deliver such a report and your Minister will deliver it without changing one word.”
Both promises were kept.
Maori had delivered a report committing their numbers to a step up, step change, and full commitment to New Zealand’s economic and social future.
That approach was critical to its enthusiastic acceptance.
That, and the promise to defend the department’s budget of $239 million all of which would be desperately needed in the new pathway forward.
Maori were told that the Budget Razor Gang might attack other departments but they would not successfully attack theirs.
It was an approach psychologically attuned to traditional Maori thinking and leadership.
But the inspiration came from abroad. From two standout Asian economies, Singapore and Taiwan, very highly populated Asian islands with few resources except their people.
Ka Awatea’s primary objective was to promote a consensus of action and commitment from Maori towards full equality in a leading first world economy. Central to its objectives was the reversal of socio-economic disadvantage to deal with the adverse affects of colonisation.
It did not seek to respond to the causes of colonisation for two simple reasons.
First, there was no time to.
Second, Ka Awatea logically believed that if as it was argued that the European was the cause of the Maori demise then why would that same European be trusted to fix it up.
Many years earlier a most perceptive commentator had written about his observations of early settler life and Maori. His pen name was J B of Te Kuiti who wrote under the title “Where the White Man Walks – across the pathway of the Maori.”
There had been significant progress with the wave of leadership of the Young Maori movement in the early 1900’s under exceptional leaders like Ngata, Pomare and Buck.
It was likewise on the social front under the 1935-1949 Labour Government and indeed into the 1950’s, but little had been done to prepare Maori for the great urban migration and its many attendant challenges.
Maori policy which followed through to 1984 could be best described as drift. Then in 1984 came a misguided attempt at free market reforms and devolution of responsibilities to iwi with almost no time to prepare for such changes let alone to acquire the education or skills for such a challenge.
Perceived wisdom then was that if this change succeeded there would be no need for a Department for Maori.
Pan Maori movements such as Ratana, the New Zealand Maori Council and the Maori Women’s Welfare League were left in no-man’s land and thereby ignored.
Ka Awatea’s inspiration had four main pillars designed to ensure modern Maori needs were coherently responded to under the oversight of four Commissions each to attend to Maori Education, Health, Employment and Economic Development.
None of those was the result of a heavily interventionalist approach.
They were, however, to be highly proactive in field research and policy response based on information hitherto unsought, because such information would be politically embarrassing.
Legislatively the Ministry of Maori Development was set up in 1991 and its title meant everything: development being the key.
The new Department’s Act contained a critical Section 5.
“Particular responsibilities of the Ministry of Maori Development.
Section 5
(1) The responsibilities of Ministry of Maori Development include
(2)
(a) Promoting increases in the levels of achievement attained by Maori with respect to –
(i) Education
(ii) Training and employment
iii) Health
(iv) Economic resource development
(b) Monitoring and liaising with each department and agency that provides or has responsibility to provide services to or for Maori for the purpose of ensuring the adequacy of these services.
(3) The responsibilities of the Ministry or Maori Development under Sub Section (1) of this section are in addition to the other responsibilities conferred on the Ministry from time to time.”
(4)
Section 5. (1) (B) was the critical section that caused an agonising journey through Cabinet.
The Government and other departments were extremely reluctant to prospect their delivery performance, or lack of it, being monitored by the new department or its Commissioners.
No one wanted a full-scale nationwide attack on the prevalence of Maori with Hepatitis C, least of all Treasury, which deceitfully argued that if Government found out the true circumstances of this plight then Government would have to respond.
No one wanted to know that the 10% of Kiwifruit resources owned by Maori was beset with $92 million of debt all incurred by Government officials who had grossly failed to exercise a “duty of care” to Maori orchardists.
No one wanted to stop a bunch of shonky Hawaiians illegally using the Maori Trustee Fund to buy out the Quality Inns Hotel chain.
The Maori Fund was putting up three quarters of the money but the Hawaiians were getting three quarters of the action.
The Minister sought to block the Hawaiians and promised a full scale public enquiry.
Within weeks, in October 1991 the Minister was sacked, the new programmes of the Ministry were transferred to mainstream government departments, and in the next budget, 1992, over $200 million was slashed from the department.
That is about where things have remained until today.
There has been a lot of pre-sales talk but little after sales delivery.
The consequences of the changes post October 1991 have been dramatic.
Instead of Maori being assisted to meet the challenges in a broader society and the public sector taking responsibility to address issues related to economic and social development of Maori, as part of their core business, Maori have had no clear prescription to become full participants in the economic and social fabric of New Zealand.
Maori need to step up, and Crown agencies need to take responsibility if real progress is to occur for either Maori or the nation.
Today sadly the Ministry has been forced to abandon the objectives most clearly set out in Section 5.
Indeed the department has been made derelict in its duty principally because no one in Cabinet is demanding that the law where the department is concerned, be observed.
Neither has that dereliction appeared to trouble the Auditor General.
More alarming is the fact that policies appear to be moving towards segregating Maori initiatives and the policies of government agencies are no longer required to address the social and economic issues of Maori.
Thus, the present social and economic malaise of Maori, particularly its youth, is both explicable and predictable.
No clearer evidence of that is to be found in the comments after the recent visit of the UN Special Rapporteur for Indigenous People, Professor James Anaya, who said;
“I cannot help but note the extreme disadvantage in the social and economic conditions of Maori people, which are dramatically manifested in the continued and persistent high levels of incarceration of Maori individuals. These troubling conditions undoubtedly result from the historical and ongoing denial of the human rights of Maori, which must continue to be addressed as a matter of upmost priority.”
What is astonishing about those comments is that the professor is now transposing grievances into the issue of human rights, in this case, of Maori.
That is a most confusing development for it is not a rights issue we are talking about but one of serious policy failure and until that is understood by all concerned then little progress is possible.
Of course what was also significant about Professor Anaya’s comments was the deafening silence from both Government and indeed Parliament.
In short, what confidence can Maori have of any step change, or step up, if those responsible don’t understand the most basic fundamentals of the problem?
In conclusion, can Maori step up?
Of course they can, and many have, but you can’t give a people a microlight and expect them to fly to the moon.
And a final question.
Why does the political system not want to know the true state of affairs where Maori are concerned and where is the vision to truly take a people to betterment?
As was wisely said over 2000 years ago “where there is no vision the people perish”.
ENDS
Advertisement - scroll to continue reading
a.supporter:hover {background:#EC4438!important;} @media screen and (max-width: 480px) { #byline-block div.byline-block {padding-right:16px;}}
Using Scoop for work?
Scoop is free for personal use, but you’ll need a licence for work use. This is part of our Ethical Paywall and how we fund Scoop. Join today with plans starting from less than $3 per week, plus gain access to exclusive Pro features.
Join Pro Individual Find out more
Find more from New Zealand First Party on InfoPages.