'Te iti me te rahi - Seashells to Sealords' - Rahui Katene
te-pati-maori
Tue May 24 2011 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)
'Te iti me te rahi - Seashells to Sealords' - Rahui Katene
Tuesday, 24 May 2011, 4:36 pm
Speech: The Maori Party
Te Matau a Maui Annual Maori Fisheries Conference
'Te iti me te rahi - Seashells to Sealords'
Rahui Katene, MP for Te Tai Tonga
Tuesday 24 May 2011
It is my absolute honour to be able to speak to you, to acknowledge the collective strength of the leadership gathered here today, and to mihi to the rich diversity of whanau, hapu and iwi that have come here to Te Tau ihu, the top of the south.
You will all be familiar with the tongue twister, she sells seashells by the seashore. My interest today, is to remind ourselves that each and every seashell is as vital to our future wealth, as the Sealords within our midst.
In this month’s Policy Quarterly, there is an article tracking the relationship between ethnicity and pathways to welfare dependence in a New Zealand birth cohort.
The article documents what they describe as one of the “conspicuous yet down-played features” of our system of social security and that is the early emphasis that was directed towards providing welfare assistance to Maori.
In 1945 the government passed the Maori Social and Economic Advancement Act in which Maori were equally entitled to benefit receipt as non-Maori, thereby earning a reputation as one of the first nations to remove ethnic biases relative to welfare eligibility.
66 years later, report after report reveals the disproportionately high numbers of Maori on welfare; with Maori making up nearly one third of all beneficiaries receiving a main benefit.
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The issue of welfare dependency among Maori is one of the fundamental challenges of our time, given the detrimental impacts of long term benefit receipt.
And so as I came here this morning, to consider the opportunities associated with Maori as post-settlement fisheries assets owners – I couldn’t help but wonder about your relations and my relations who are not here; but who so desperately crave the same opportunities and choices that may be served up here today.
What is their lot? What is our lot? And how do we reconcile the two? How do we best care for te pani me te rawakore?
In 1946, one year after the Maori Social and Economic Advancement Act Henare Waitoa wrote his waiata, Moni Penihana, to encourage Ngati Porou to vote for Ta Apirana Ngata despite the fact he opposed Maori from receiving the social welfare benefit.
In doing so, Waitoa joined with both Ngata and the songstress Tuini Ngawai, in resisting benefit dependency. She suggested that reliance on welfare reform would attack their memories, erode the essence of their souls.
Running throughout their korero was a theme that has played out over the last two decades as tangata whenua paved the way for nations of the world to sign up to the United Nations Declaration on the Right of Indigenous People.
That theme, of course, was to recognise and protect not only the rights of indigenous people as individuals but also as collectives empowered with land rights and the right of self-determination.
Today then, I come to this forum, to focus on future opportunities both globally and nationally, and all of these fragments seem to logically come together.
And I am reminded of the challenge put forward by UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, in opening the annual United Nations Permanent Forum on indigenous issues which is currently in session in New York.
Ban Ki-moon argued that it is now time to make the principles of the Declaration a reality; and that participants should “raise your voices” so that the world can hear about the threats and risks that indigenous communities face, as well as the unique expertise that they bring to issues such as climate change.
What will the Treaty Tribes Coalition do to raise your voice in the journey towards rangatiratanga?
How do we ensure that the continued success of Maori in business in the fisheries sector is shared throughout our whanau; our hapu, our iwi?
All of us come to this forum, probably more aware than most, that income inequality in New Zealand has increased faster between the mid 80s and mid 2000s compared to any OECD country.
The perennial issue of the haves and have nots is one of the most distinguishing features of our current demographics and we ignore those inequalities at our peril. I make all of these comments as a precursor to some of the concerns I have raised previously around working conditions for companies such as Sealord.
I have suggested, for instance, that Sealord needs to take responsibility for looking at more innovative responses to the circumstances of recession - to place priority on job security - rather than placing more stress on whanau.
Earlier this year I formally accepted a petition signed by some 12,000 New Zealanders concerned that the fishing industry is exporting New Zealand jobs. The signatures had been gathered by members of the Service and Food Workers Union and called for a Parliamentary inquiry into the fishing industry.
And I want us to look again at the industry. What we know is that Maori exercise effective control of approximately 50% of the entire industry with an estimated resource value of close to four billion dollars. With such a significant asset base, I have to ask why the industry is using foreign crews on foreign boats to catch fish from our waters and then send 90% of the fish off to China to be processed.
This Annual Maori Fisheries conference has to raise your voice for all those who are not here to raise them. If we are truly committed to collective gain - if our advancement is associated with the advancement of all of our people, we need to be asking ourselves the hard questions.
• Are we employing New Zealanders to catch and process our fish?
• When Sealord closed processing plants in Dunedin and Nelson what did the company – a company half owned by Maori interests – do to cushion the shock of restructuring and job losses?
• With such high rates of Maori unemployment, what responsibility do Maori businesses in the fishing industry have to create as many jobs for Maori as possible?
• What value is placed on the customary caretaker role encompassed within the kaupapa of kaitiakitanga – how do we ensure that we prevent unsustainable fishing practices from damaging the seabed?
Of course, I don’t want to give any impression that the issues of inequity fall at the feet of the fishing industry exclusively.
Some of you will have attended the Maori economic summit in Auckland recently, hosted by my colleague Pita Sharples.
In that hui discussion was held around future Maori economic growth and how it should focus on increasing contribution to the economy at all levels including exports, in order to ensure growth in the Maori asset base and employment, leading to rising levels of Maori household income, home ownership and improving life expectancy.
Remember we are talking about an accumulated Maori asset base equating to about $36 billion dollars.
I come back, then, to the concept of raising our voice.
During the emissions trading scheme, the Maori Party raised our voice to ensure that all families would benefit through gains such as
• halving the price impact on households for liquid fuel, gas and electricity charges;
• retaining Enviro-kura;
• establishing Crown-iwi partnerships for afforestation;
• or targeting some 8000 low income households to benefit from the investment of $24 million in the Warm Up home insulation scheme.
During the current policy work on setting up an Environment Protection Authority we have brought the Treaty into all of our negotiations – succeeding in areas such as increased Maori representation or in making a Treaty clause result in practical gains.
In the Private Members Bills we have introduced into the House our voices have been raised on agendas as varied as:
• removing GST off fresh food
• increasing Maori representation in local government
• instigating the annual celebration of Matariki Day
• enabling local authorities to reduce the number of or even eliminate pokies from their towns or the
• Offer Back Of and Compensation For Acquired Lands under the Public Works Act.
Or even in the Budget announced last week, we were adamant that in every policy twist under debate, Government had to give due consideration to the dual goals of protecting our most vulnerable while at the same time investing in our future.
Finally, I want to return to this theme of making it real, of raising our voices, by referring to the impact of the Canterbury earthquakes. I have never been so proud of being Maori as I have been in being part of the massive mobilisation associated with the Iwi Maori recovery network.
Throughout the motu, iwi have contributed cash and koha, human resources, truckloads of kai, a place to stay; a much needed exchange. Together, maata waka and mana whenua pooled together to meet the needs of the people.
It was a spirit of kotahitanga, of whanaungatanga, of manaakitanga epitomised by the massive efforts of a global telethon that raised a stunning $2.5 million dollars in the weekend, or the superhaka at the end of last week.
Some 3600 people took part in the simultaneous super haka in Dunedin, Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland; in Swansea, in Melbourne and Brisbane, in London, and San Francisco, Denver and New York.
The superhaka was especially composed by Ngai Tahu to encourage the nation to ‘rise up, rise up’ in support of the needs and recovery of people in Christchurch during these dark days.
And I cannot but think that just as we have so easily accepted we have a moral obligation and a commitment to do what we can for the recovery and restoration of Otautahi; whether we can now extend that same dedicated effort to assisting the rebuilding of Maori whanau, hapu and iwi to acquire economic, social and cultural strength.
I was greatly moved by the words of the leadership here including that of Sir Tipene O’Regan, of Naida Glavish, of Sonny Tau, who have recommended that we place value on collaboration, on relationships and on strengthening the connections we have not just within the fishing sector but wider afield.
And I think we all have to reflect on the amazing momentum that has been expressed through the support for Whanau Ora. Our people are ripe for the transformation – what Tariana has been able to put in place is an opportunity to drive their own destiny; to plan the future that they want.
The Treaty Tribes coalition is no stranger to such concepts –while your primary motivation has always been to secure allocation of the fisheries assets, it has also been a powerful advocate for the collective impact and potential of lives influenced by taonga tuku iho. While each of the constituent iwi gathered here today retain and protect your unique role as kaitiaki of your rohe moana; so too that role is just as necessary in the protection of your whanau, your whakapapa, your identity.
This conference has been run under the theme of te iti me te rahi – seashells to Sealords.
And perhaps it might be useful to consider these words,
That words are like seashells on the shore They show where the mind ends, and not how far it has been. Not all of us want to be a Sealord. And nor should we.
Not all of us want to stay fixed on the seashore, trapped and unable to move.
The greatest challenge ahead of us, is what are words that make our aspirations live? What is the journey of the mind that we must embrace if we are to allow the aspirations of the people to thrive?
What words do we use to achieve self-determination as a legitimate pathway forward?
What is the unique expertise and experience that we uphold in every debate? How do we ensure our voices are heard?
The Maori Party is absolutely determined that no Government can govern without the voices of tangata whenua being raised.
And while the protests from outside the tent remain important in expressing the views of some of our people; we must not sacrifice the only opportunity we have had for Maori to have influence and integrity at the decision-making table of Government.
We will continue to bring the Treaty into the debate; we will continue to ask hard questions, to seek and provoke discussion; and to always remain focused on the bigger picture – the wellbeing and prosperity of all of our whanau. Whether we are seashells or Sealords, our collective wealth must drive us forward. There is no greater challenge than that.
ENDS
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