Kauma¯tua want pair gone
Ma¯ori staff backed over claims of institutionalised racism at Unitec
Kauma¯tua are supporting a call from Ma¯ori staff at Unitec to remove the chair of the joint Unitec and Manukau Institute of Technology Board and one remaining member of its ru¯nanga (council).
The news comes after several Ma¯ori staff handed in their resignations last month at Unitec, over what they claimed was institutionalised racism.
The Unitec Ma¯ori staff collective — Te Ro¯pu¯ Mataara — said the Unitec environment made them feel culturally unsafe and there had been failure of compliance with Te Tiriti o Waitangi from leadership.
Te Tira Ka¯puia, a group of prominent Ma¯ori kauma¯tua with connections to Unitec and who influenced major advances in Ma¯ori education, back the resistance.
Te Tira Ka¯puia chairman Rangi McLean said the Minister of Education was notified last month of the “grave concerns for the wellbeing of Ma¯ori at Unitec”, but no sufficient action had been taken to secure staff safety.
“The voices and concerns of Ma¯ori have been stifled at governance and management levels.
“Now, five of the six ru¯nanga representatives have resigned as a result of the disrespect shown towards mana Ma¯ori,” he said.
In a statement, Unitec said “we should have engaged better to honour Te Noho Kotahitanga, seeking input, listening more to staff, students, Te Roopu¯ Mataara and Te Ru¯nanga o te Whare Wa¯nanga o Wairaka before deciding on the right path.
“We have apologised unreservedly for the hurt caused and have committed to resolving the issues raised.
“Since making this apology 10 days ago, we have consistently reached out to Te Roopu¯ Mataara and requested to meet and talk through the issues.
“So far, we have been unable to secure such a meeting, but we would like one to happen as soon as possible.
“Te Pu¯kenga, as well as the MIT/ Unitec board and management have suggested a range of solutions, embodied in a pledge made to our staff, students and the community.
“Our board chair and chief executive met with the Te Tira Ka¯puia chair, as recently as Friday, and reinforced our willingness to meet and talk through the issues and possible remedies.
“Unitec reaffirms its commitment to upholding our Te Tiriti obligations and the values of Te Noho Kotahitanga. ”
Last month a ru¯nanga representative said Unitec’s former leadership allowed Ma¯ori to thrive, with a model that prioritised working with and alongside Ma¯ori.
But that leadership changed in August 2020, which then set Pa¯keha¯ at the top, and Ma¯ori working beneath them without their own governance.
A response letter has been sent to Te Tira Ka¯puia and Te Ro¯pu¯ Mataara, but they say it is unsatisfactory.
“The inaction of those with the mana to support Ma¯ori staff in a crisis is condoning their continued mistreatment.”
Te Tira Ka¯puia has called on Education Minister Chris Hipkins and Tu Pu¯kenga again to enact six resolutions passed by Te Ro¯pu¯ Mataara.
This includes a vote of no confidence in a senior board member and one other governance member; the establishment of mana o¯rite at governance and management level; and the immediate halt of the appointment of a Tumu and establishment of a new ru¯nanga until this is done.
Te Ro¯pu¯ Mataara say they will continue to fight for mana o¯rite and uphold the mana of Te Noho Kotahitanga and the legacy of Ta¯ John Te Ahikaiata Turei (Sir John Turei).
Sir John was a Tu¯hoe rangatira and one of the most respected figures in te ao Ma¯ori for his lifelong involvement with the community and the Waitangi Tribunal.
His daughter, Tui Ah Loo, had worked at Unitec for 21 years but resigned following the disrespect shown towards Ma¯ori.
She took with her the framed portrait of her father which had lived at the tertiary education.
Ma¯ori, Pasifika and households with disabled children are more than twice as likely to be experiencing poverty compared with Pa¯keha¯, the latest statistics show.
The figures show while the Government is on track to meet two out of three of its child poverty reduction targets, those gains are being unequally felt, which experts have called “shocking” and “disappointing”.
There are also warnings any of the minor gains would be undone by the hardships of Covid-19, with the lockdown months not in the survey.
The data released by Statistics NZ yesterday, which includes nine different measures, also show housing costs continue to have a strong effect on how many kids live in poverty.
The annual measure takes into account only the nine months to March 2020, and has surveyed 15,000 families rather than 20,000 as in previous years.
It does not include April, May and June because the Ministry of Health did not want officials doing face-toface interviews, given the Covid risks.
The numbers only take into account child poverty levels from between July 2018 and March 2020.
This is because families were asked about their experiences in the year before the survey, taken between July 2019 and March 2020.
The data range took into account most of the first year of the Government’s $5.5 billion Families Package, which came into effect in July 2018.
Over the two years since the Government introduced child poverty reduction targets, progress has been made across all measures.
For 2019/2020, about one in seven children (167,100) lived in households with less than 50 per cent of the median disposable income before deducting household costs.
This was slightly down from one in six in the year to June 2018, but up slightly from the year to June 2019.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the figures showed a “broad improvement” in child poverty rates.
“Today’s numbers demonstrate our actions to reduce child poverty are making a real difference in children’s lives, and they are a promising indication our goal of halving child poverty within 10 years is on track.”
She said it was encouraging to see child poverty has reduced against all nine official measures, when compared with the baseline year.
Factoring in housing costs, 18.2 per cent of Kiwi kids — 208,400 or about one in five — lived in households with less than 50 per cent of the median disposable household income, a drop from 22.8 per cent in June 2018.
Material hardship affected about one in nine children in the latest data, compared with about one in eight in June 2018 — about 20,000 fewer.
While falls across ethnicities were mostly even, vast inequities persist.
For Pasifika, one in four children (25.4 per cent) were in households experiencing material hardship, and one in five for Ma¯ori (19 per cent). This was compared with about one in 11 Pa¯keha¯ (8.6 per cent).
Material hardship is seen as going without at least six of 17 common things defined in the Household Economic Survey, such as fruit, vegetables or visits to the doctor.
This year’s data also included households with disabled children.
It found disabled children were more likely to be in low-income households and one in five (19.9 per cent) were experiencing material hardship — more than double the rate for non-disabled children.
Inequality was even more profound when looking at severe material hardship, defined as the proportion of children in households earning less than half the disposable income of the average household.
Overall this fell from 5.8 per cent of children (64,800) in the baseline year to 4.6 per cent in 2019/2020.
For Pasifika this went from 14.3 per cent to 11.5 per cent between 2018/2019 and 2018/2019, and for Ma¯ori 11.1 per cent to 9.3 per cent.
For Pa¯keha¯ it had dropped from 4.1 per cent to 3.3 per cent.
Child Poverty Action Group spokeswoman Innes Asher said the nine measures showed no statistical change over the 21 months surveyed.
“Although not surprising, these pre-Covid statistics overall are deeply disappointing. For families with disabilities, they’re absolutely shocking.
“We’re particularly worried as we know child poverty will have increased due to Covid-19.”
She said the Government needed to take on the recommendations of the Welfare Expert Advisory Group, including raising benefit levels.
Dr Keri Lawson-Te Aho said the stats showed “entrenched, compounding inequities with . . . Ma¯ori and Pacific children bearing the brunt of racial discrimination”.
Children’s Commissioner Judge Andrew Becroft said while the gains were “fantastic”, bold action was needed to ensure they were kept up.