Ma¯ori solutions to Ma¯ori issues
Never mind Don Brash’s views on Ma¯oridom, here are the thoughts of five Ma¯ori thinkers to mark Waitangi Day. By Carmen Parahi.
Annual to Waitangi Day is the raising of Ma¯ ori issues and New Zealand’s political leaders standing on the Treaty grounds to extol their Ma¯ ori policies.
This year, Hobson’s Pledge leader Don Brash and Destiny Church Bishop Brian Tamaki were also invited to share their views at Te Tii marae.
Stuff invited five Ma¯ ori leaders at the coalface of Ma¯ ori issues, who did not get an invitation to speak at Waitangi, to share their perspectives.
All agree Treaty settlements should be used for economic development and not to fix Ma¯ ori social issues. Instead, Ma¯ ori need to develop their own solutions in partnership with the Crown.
HEALTH
For decades, Dr David TipeneLeach has witnessed the effects of poverty on his patients. He’s come face to face with it as a GP, public health campaigner and in his governance roles as chairman of Te ORA (the Ma¯ ori Medical Practitioners Association) and on an advisory panel to Minister of Health David Clark.
‘‘Yes we should exercise more, smoke less and eat better food, but the level of individual capability to be able to fix these problems is actually reasonably limited,’’ says Tipene-Leach.
‘‘It’s very difficult for us to help ourselves given the cycle of deprivation many of our people are caught in. It’s very difficult to escape from.’’
He recommends health practitioners have cultural competence, the ability to respond appropriately to
Ma¯ ori needs.
Ma¯ ori aren’t generally receiving as much time, investigation, tests, prescriptions and referrals from practitioners as non-Ma¯ ori, says Tipene-Leach.
He says without cultural competency the practices become entrenched in the system. ‘‘It’s institutional racism.
‘‘Ma¯ ori women survive breast cancer very poorly,’’ he says. ‘‘Although we have lower rates of bowel cancer we die a hell of a lot more often of it when we get it.
‘‘This is not about saying individual practitioners are racist, it’s about getting everyone working together. The outcomes are absolutely unfair and inequitable.’’
He relates what Ma¯ ori have experienced through colonisation to the trauma people suffered in the Christchurch earthquakes.
‘‘It’s difficult to do something about.
‘‘We’ve got 170 years of colonisation of land loss, language and cultural loss. Historical trauma is very real.’’
He says the health system needs to include indigenous services. ‘‘A Ma¯ ori framework of thinking, treatments such as mirimiri [massage], rongoa¯ [remedies] Ma¯ ori. We’re touching on the edge here, but spiritual and psychic intervention.’’
Medical schools are churning out record numbers of Ma¯ ori and Pasifika staff, he says, but all practitioners need a solid understanding of cultural safety and how to deliver it.
EDUCATION
Myles Ferris is the principal of a decile 1, mainly Ma¯ ori school in Whangarei, and president of Te Akatea, the Ma¯ ori Principals Association.
‘‘One of the biggest issues in our current education system for Ma¯ ori is whether they really see themselves in it. How well does your school meet the cultural needs of Ma¯ ori?’’
Ferris makes no apology for his stance. All New Zealanders need to learn about Ma¯ ori culture, he says.
‘‘Our children need to know who they are, where they stand in this world. They need to know they’re respected and valued.
‘‘The other big issue is the levels of racism and discrimination in our system.’’
He says research has shown teachers don’t have high expectations of Ma¯ ori children, pointing to the disparity between Ma¯ ori and other students across NCEA subjects.
In 2017, in NCEA level 3 subjects, just 2069 students were Ma¯ ori compared with 14,683 non-Ma¯ ori in mathematics. Of the total 13,045 science students, 1299 were Ma¯ ori. In technology, just 588 Ma¯ ori sat level 3.
He says Ma¯ ori-medium kura students are performing better than the majority of Ma¯ ori in mainstream schools.
‘‘Our schools in Ma¯ ori medium obviously get that cultural understanding and awareness right.’’
He wants compulsory te reo Ma¯ ori in every primary and secondary school to year 10.
‘‘Te reo Ma¯ ori is for all New Zealanders. It is not the domain of Ma¯ ori, we are kaitiaki of the reo.
‘‘Iwi need to be a part of international trade negotiations and exporting discussions.’’
‘‘I think it will alleviate a lot of the cultural differences that people have and a lack of understanding of the Ma¯ ori culture.’’
He’s backing calls for New Zealand’s colonial history to be made compulsory but only after te reo Ma¯ ori has been instituted.
Ferris says there are many culturally responsive programmes available for educators to use.
MA¯ ORI ECONOMY
Katie Paul chairs the Nga¯ ti Whakaue Assets Trust. The entity has grown its assets from $9 million in 2009 to over $20m last year, distributing $500,000 to beneficiaries.
The former public servant spent many years in the diplomatic service overseas until she felt the pull to bring her children home and work for her people.
She says a thousand more experienced Ma¯ ori governance workers are required to handle multimillion dollar, postsettlement iwi trusts.
Paul says many of those running the older land trusts and incorporations are aging and dying. Ma¯ ori can no longer rely on older men to lead.
‘‘The governance pool is so small there’s going to be a role for young women coming through. We’ve got to draw on everyone to help.
‘‘It’s so exciting now, our kids are going to be well positioned having an asset base they can grow. We do have to prepare the succession now.’’
Paul says the Ma¯ ori asset level is projected to be $12 billion by 2026. But she’s very clear the money is to be spent growing economic wealth for Ma¯ ori.
‘‘There’s a temptation for New Zealanders to see iwi settlements as the panacea or remedy for all of our social needs to address our social problems.’’
‘‘I’m always asked, as an iwi chair, what are you going to do about our poverty? What are you going to do about housing and education? Well, actually those are always the Crown’s responsibility that was never abrogated under the Treaty.
‘‘Just because iwi have got billions of dollars doesn’t mean they have to provide all of our education, social housing. The Treaty settlements were never meant to do that.’’
She believes iwi need to get more involved with trade negotiations. ‘‘Forestry, farming, fisheries were a big chunk of our settlements. So much of it is exported. Iwi will now have to be part of those conversations with government.
‘‘Iwi need to be a part of international trade negotiations and exporting discussions.
‘‘We’ve got this dual role of helping our tribe but also growing our assets.’’
JUSTICE
Sir Kim Workman has worked in the justice system for more than half a century. He was knighted last year for his prisoner welfare and justice work.
He agrees Treaty settlements shouldn’t be used to pay for social services, despite Ma¯ ori having high rates of crime as perpetrators and victims often linked to poverty.
‘‘The money should be reserved for economic development.’’
Workman has publicly advocated for system reform, especially for Ma¯ ori, who are more likely to be stopped by police, charged, held in remand, convicted and imprisoned than non-Ma¯ ori.
Fifty-one per cent of the prison population is Ma¯ ori.
‘‘There’s been a pattern over decades of agencies promising a partnership with Ma¯ ori.
‘‘It never ends up as a partnership. It ends up with the Crown or government agencies co-opting Ma¯ ori values or principles into a Western model of delivery. It never works.
‘‘Ma¯ ori need to develop their own approaches without interference from Pa¯ keha¯ . To develop outcome measures that address spiritual, physical and mental issues for Ma¯ ori.’’
Workman says the incarceration of Ma¯ ori has been criticised domestically and internationally for decades, yet little has changed. ‘‘We now have to think radically about different models Ma¯ ori will develop and be resourced.
Former criminals shouldn’t be excluded from being a part of the solution. But he is critical of new programmes that he says are often new ways of punishing people.
‘‘We shouldn’t be shy about involving former gang members or former prisoners in the process. We do it all the time in areas like drug rehabilitation.
‘‘We’ve got to be brave, instead of being preoccupied with risk.
‘‘We’re so busy being tough on people and wanting to punish them – for often very minor things – rather than working with them, to change and transform their lives.’’
MAORI ¯ AND CROWN PARTNERSHIP ‘‘The big problem is hyperincarceration of Ma¯ ori,’’ says criminal lawyer and academic Khylee Quince. ‘‘Five thousand Ma¯ ori bodies in a cage on any given day . . . is an outrageous problem.’’ Quince believes it’s important to find out how people came to be in the system.
‘‘From a government perspective that’s quite difficult. It means looking across the sector in terms of health, education, restricted opportunities, dysfunctional and marginalised lives.’’
‘‘They’re quite often horrific stories.’’ Quince says the Treaty of Waitangi is important as it establishes the partnership between Ma¯ ori and the Crown, setting out clearly its responsibility to Ma¯ ori.
She cites a number of initiatives that are working, including one which she regards as a good example of a Treaty relationship.
Nga¯ puhi Iwi Social Services, in partnership with the Crown, has created a programme for Northland youth to be bailed to a supported address instead of being held in remand in Auckland.
Quince is impressed by the number of governmentappointed inquiries under way for mental health and addiction, the health and disability system review, justice system reform and historical abuse in state care.
She warns the panels are hearing different snippets of the same story so hopes they’ll join the dots.
A client told her of being in a prison cell with a guy he shared a room with in a Levin state care home when they were eight years old. ‘‘Here they all are in the cage 42 years later. I was gobsmacked.
‘‘They talk about the pipeline as if it’s an inevitability.’’
All five experts agree Ma¯ ori have the solutions that should be resourced and supported by the Government.
‘‘The key to lifting oneself out of poverty is education. We should invest in education now. It’s not just a poverty of wealth, it’s a poverty of hope, a poverty of knowledge,’’ says Ferris.
He wants more promotion of Ma¯ ori businesses and entrepreneurship in schools. ‘‘I think it’s essential to create wealth,’’ says Ferris. ‘‘We’re well aware if we have economic strength and stability then we alleviate a lot of the problems we have.’’