Horomia Speaks To Maori Devlopment Conference
Hon Parekura Horomia
Minister of Mäori Affairs
Nation
Building and Mäori Development Conference - Waikato
University
Thursday 30 August 2000
Kia ora [Ministers Mihi]
Introduction
I want to commend the
School of Mäori and Pacific Development - Te Pua Wananga ki
Te Ao and the University of Waikato for organising this
forum so that we could all come together to discuss a future
path for Mäori in the 21st Century.
I believe
that Mäori will have a more prosperous future in Aotearoa if
we embrace the new millennium with passion and commitment
for the betterment of whänau, hapü, and iwi. Indeed we must
for our tamariki!.
As Minister of Mäori
Affairs, I am in the nation building “business” if I can
call it that. And during my time with you I want to share
some key themes in Government policy that are seeking to
strengthen this nation of ours. These three themes are:
(1) the Government’s commitment to closing the gaps;
(2) building the partnership between Government and
Mäori through capacity building; and
(3) the imperative
of Mäori economic development as a driving force in
improving our overall economic and social
situation.
Partnership
The Government believes
that the pathway towards securing a prosperous future for
Mäori begins by strengthening its relationship with Mäori as
Treaty Partner.
We are Tangata Whenua and
partners in the Treaty of Waitangi. Our leaders had a
vision for our future and in signing the Treaty. They put
their trust in the Crown’s hands to ensure that Mäori and
non-Mäori would prosper and grow together.
Sadly, this trust was ignored and Governments over the past
decades have continued this neglect which has had serious
implications on the current status of Mäori.
I
am proud to say that this Government will work to meet its
Treaty obligations to Mäori. We recognise our obligations
and will endeavour to work with Mäori to find solutions.
But to be successful, they need to be solutions “by Mäori
for Mäori.”
There are two important policies
which have the potential to strengthen the partnership
between Mäori and Government more than any other in recent
times. These are this Government’s commitment to closing
the social and economic gaps between Mäori and non-Mäori and
its Mäori capacity building policies.
Closing the
Gaps
Closing the gaps is about focusing the
collective resources and harnessing the energy of the
Government and Mäori to improve Mäori economic and social
results. It is not about capping your aspirations to those
of non-Mäori. You will find that the policy is about
working from a Mäori base to exceed your own expectations
and exceed the achievements of others. In doing so, the
Government has a very focused role in supporting you in this
aim through its closing the gaps strategy.
I
want to draw your attention to a number of recent
initiatives which underpin the Government’s commitment to
closing the gaps, and promoting Mäori economic
development.
Firstly, the Government has set-up
a high powered committee chaired by the Prime Minister
called the Cabinet Committee on Closing the
Gaps.
The main objective of this committee is to
provide Mäori communities the opportunity to control their
own development and achieve their own
objectives.
The Government’s policy for closing
the gaps between Mäori and non-Mäori
includes:
i) Increasing accountability for Government
performance in closing the gaps;
ii) Improving the
effectiveness of Government spending on Mäori;
and
iii) Building the capacity of Mäori communities to
determine their objectives and achieve their own
goals.
State sector performance
The
Government has devised new policies that will make
government agencies more accountable for spending on
improving outcomes for Mäori and closing the
gaps.
There is an expectation that all
departments are going to be measured against the strategies
they have in place to close the gaps. The performance of
Chief Executives and their departments will be assessed
according to these measures.
We are sending a
clear message to all Government departments to perform and
strive for the betterment of Mäori.
To ensure
that this happens, the Government has added effectiveness
auditing to the role of Te Puni Kokiri. This will
strengthen the ability of Te Puni Kokiri to assess the
effectiveness of specific programmes for Mäori.
The sorts of questions the auditors will ask will be:
1 Is the programme relevant to current or emerging needs
or problems?
2 What kind of results is the programme
achieving for Maori?
The auditing process will
be result driven.
These new mechanisms are
intended to make sure the Government lifts its game in a
measurable way in closing the gaps for Mäori.
Capacity
Building
This Government has made a clear
commitment to building capacity within whänau, hapü, iwi,
Mäori organisations and Mäori communities. The government
has set aside $243 million to close the gaps of which $113
million (over four years) has been allocated to government
departments for capacity building for Mäori and Pacific
peoples.
My colleagues and I are working to
ensure that Ministers and mainstream Government departments
respond appropriately and effectively to the capacity
building policy.
Capacity building is a process
which seeks to strengthen the ability of whänau, hapü, iwi,
Mäori organisations and Mäori communities to build the
strategies, systems, structures and skills that they need to
control their own development and achieve their own
objectives.
Capacity building is about building
on the strengths of Mäori communities and aligning these
strengths to the needs of their people.
The
traditional approach focused on Mäori as a client. And in
fact we’ve been case managed to death.
It’s
about bottom-up development from the communities that need
the assistance most. It’s about targeting the pohara ones
in our communities. Pohara in the sense of poor health,
housing and educational situations. It’s about making sure
there is wide participation and benefit from the
policy.
The Government’s new approach will
empower and enable Mäori to solve their own problems. It
is about, “by Mäori for Mäori.”
The government
has set in place a national strategy for Mäori capacity
building. Our role is to resource the people to build
their capacity, with information, policy, programmes, and
funding - not to dictate terms.
Under this
approach, the government will contribute to Mäori
development with a “whole of government approach”. We don’t
want to see 20 different agencies sending 20 different cars
to the same community for different purposes. The whole of
government approach is critical to the policy’s
success.
Te Puni Kökiri has a crucial role in
the capacity building policy. Te Puni Kökiri is to
coordinate and lead the state sector in a whole of
government approach to Mäori capacity building.
There are now 3 new fora crucial to making this work. There
is the Chief Executives’ Forum, the Senior Officials’ Group,
and Regional Inter-sectoral Fora convened by Te Puni Kökiri
who will engage with Mäori communities in the collective
sense. The role of these fora is to ensure other agencies
are responding appropriately and effectively to the needs of
Mäori communities.
Most important is how these
fora engage and involve Mäori. It is for Mäori to determine
how that interaction will occur.
National Mäori
organisations such as the New Zealand Mäori Council and the
Mäori Women’s Welfare League have an integral role to play.
So too do our tribal organisations such as runanga and trust
boards, as well as established Mäori provider
organisations.
These organisations are crucial
to engaging with our people to ensure they are aware of the
various opportunities available to them through the capacity
building policy.
It’s about bringing the people
together so that information from government gets presented
to our people in the most lucid form possible.
Let me be clear about this. If we get this policy right, it
has the potential to reshape New Zealand as we know it. It
is fundamentally about strengthening the partnership between
government and Mäori to turn the negative statistics around.
It is about empowering and enabling Mäori to lead their own
development. But we also need to build partnerships amongst
ourselves to meet the challenge. A stronger Mäori nation,
is a stronger New Zealand nation overall.
Te Puni
Kökiri’s capacity building programme
As well as
leading the national strategy for Mäori capacity building,
beginning in September Te Puni Kökiri will be delivering its
own capacity building programme. This will target whänau,
hapü, iwi, Mäori organisations and Mäori communities with
strategic facilitation and support, including funding
assistance. The assistance will include funding for
capacity assessments and capacity building initiatives that
target those least likely to participate in this type of
policy.
Te Puni Kökiri’s 13 regional offices
will be the primary delivery vehicle for this programme.
They will work with other agencies to support the capacity
building aspirations of Mäori communities with information,
advice, and some funding assistance. If you wish to pursue
this path I urge you to contact your nearest TPK regional
office.
Other agencies are in the process of
developing their own capacity building programmes around
specific areas such as employment and education. More
information about these will be available soon.
Mäori
economic development
I want to turn now to Mäori
economic development. We’re working hard on a whole range
of social issues including health, education and
justice.
However, social and economic
development are not mutually exclusive. We need to develop
the economic capability of Mäori to support and enhance our
social make-up.
The Government has instigated a
number of economic development initiatives to progress
overall Mäori economic development.
The Mäori
commercial asset base is worth around $5 billion and I
believe that it can increase if it is nurtured and utilised
through business development.
The Government has
committed itself to initiatives aimed at improving Mäori
business development. I will now outline a few of
these.
Mäori Business Facilitation Service
One of these initiatives is the Mäori Business Facilitation
Service.
In the 2000/2001 Budget, the Minister
of Finance announced the establishment of a Mäori Business
Facilitation Service (MBFS). This service, due to start on 1
September 2000, is part of the coalition Government’s
commitment to improving the “commercial” capacity for Mäori
to participate successfully in business.
The
service will provide business mentoring that will cater for
the various stages of business.
The MBFS will be
able to offer different services according to each client’s
needs. The following services will be
provided:
i) Pre-commercial facilitation - guidance on
how to set up a new business;
ii) Facilitating access to
grants and finance such as those available from the Poutama
Trust, Industry New Zealand or private sector banks for
example;
iii) Post-commercial assistance for established
businesses;
There will also be a focus on
promoting an enterprise culture by encouraging and assisting
Mäori business networks.
The regional offices of
Te Puni Kökiri and the Mäori Trust Office will provide the
“shop-front” of the MBFS and third-party contractors will
deliver the specialist business advice to Mäori business
clients.
Mäori with commercially viable
business ideas can now access a specific service designed
for Mäori and delivered by an organisation that is familiar
to Mäori.
Industry New Zealand
The Government
has recognised the lack of support for industry and budding
entrepreneurs and firms with significant growth potential.
Our size in the world market and location makes it difficult
to compete in the international arena.
I
believe that the current range of business development
programmes cannot provide adequate support for businesses to
compete with overseas producers.
Therefore
Government has, through the Ministry of Economic
Development, established Industry New Zealand. It has the
aim of increasing the international competitiveness of New
Zealand’s business environment, in order to generate more
wealth, create more jobs and promote New Zealand as an
attractive place to invest and do business.
The
Government will boost the amount of money available for
industry assistance, by allocating $34 million in the
current year, $73 million in 2001/2002 and reaching $112.5
million in 2002/2003.
Industry New Zealand
will be responsible for managing and administering these
funds to provide a range of industry and regional
initiatives.
Regional Development Programme
The Government’s Regional Development Programme will provide
financial support for the development of local and regional
economic development strategies and for undertaking
strategic audits, including pre-engagement support for
building local partnerships.
Major regional
initiatives will be funded up to $2 million with a minimum
of 25% local part-funding or in-kind contribution.
These initiatives will support the ‘whole of
government’ approach that will underpin the building of
sustainable communities in the regions.
Regions
with a high level of unemployment often have a high
proportion of Mäori and I believe that this programme will
help to create jobs for Mäori in these areas.
Industry New Zealand is developing these initiatives and
will be working with Te Puni Kökiri to consult Mäori on how
they will operate.
As an initial step, the
Tairawhiti regional development initiative, spanning the
Wairoa and Gisborne districts, is the first region
identified by Government.
This initiative will
be driven by the local community and supported by an
integrated Government approach. This means ensuring
Government’s policies are integrated with regional
strategies determined by local stakeholders.
The
Tairawhiti Development Taskforce is chaired by the Deputy
Prime Minister Hon. Jim Anderton, and includes myself as
Minister of Mäori Affairs, with the two local mayors, the
local MP, chairpersons of the local runanga and a range of
business people.
The Taskforce is committed to
developing sustainable strategies while taking the
opportunity to endorse a diverse range of actions and
activities that will enhance development in the region.
A local Taskforce Secretariat has been
established and will act as a focal point for the community
submissions, liase with stakeholders, and communicate
developments.
Government will identify other
regions for development later this year.
Final
comments
I realise the extent of the work that
needs to be done to close the gaps between Mäori and
non-Mäori and I also have a good understanding of the
difficulties we face in trying to close these
gaps.
The Government cannot work alone. Instead
it must work alongside Mäori by facilitating access to the
necessary information, resources and other assistance for
whänau, hapü and iwi to make their own decisions, set their
own goals and to achieve their own aspirations.
As I have outlined today the Government has a number of
initiatives to achieve this, including Capacity Building,
Industry New Zealand, and Regional Development.
As Tangata Whenua it is our duty to build this nation of
ours and to be at the forefront of developing a brighter
future for our tamariki in the 21st Century.
I
believe the Government’s policies of capacity building,
under-pinned by the drive to improve Mäori economic and
social results, will strengthen the long term partnership
between the Government and Mäori people.
The
policy has been agreed and set by Government - that battle
has already been won. The challenge now is for you to seize
the opportunity to improve the lives of our whänau, hapü,
iwi, Mäori organisations and Mäori communities.
I thank the organisers, the participants and distinguished
guests for the opportunity to address you at this important
conference. I trust that the dialogue, debate and whakaaro
nui that is to follow with the impressive line up of
speakers will strengthen our cause.
Kia ora
tatau
katoa.