Māori economy is growing fast, but Aotearoa can learn from US tribal leaders, says expert | RNZ News
By Nigel Chee
Last week, I shared time with indigenous tribal leaders from the US to discuss our shared experiences in search of collective solutions utilising our strengths as indigenous people.
Previously, I have visited these tribal nations where the constitution of the US recognises their sovereignty alongside the sovereignty of the Federal and State systems. Yes, their constitution recognises them as sovereign, and yes, they are ahead of us here in Aotearoa. It is almost unbelievable given the domestic politics of the US and the upcoming election.
It is this framework that underpins the actions of the economic, political and cultural sovereignty approach to tribal development in the US. These tribes are forward looking in the way they see and interact with the world around them.
Economically, tribes are outward looking, trading domestically and internationally, amongst other tribes, with domestic business partners and across international trading routes, much like our ancestors.
Settlements with their government, much like the Aotearoa experience, has allowed them to grow and develop their asset base, in turn, allowing them to leverage returns for their people. Yes, they still have a long way to go, like us here in Aotearoa, but their contribution is fundamental to the growth of the economy which then contributes to the development of the overall economy.
They have social interests that span health, education, justice, housing and social investment. They own their own health care facilities, schools, police forces and courts, road works and supermarkets to name a few. They also have an extensive range of commercial interests that have allowed them to accelerate their growth. Yes it includes casinos, but they have diversified since those early days. For some tribes, their revenues are now driven by the work they gain through the government’s preferred procurement strategy where some tribes provide support to the US army.
We can enable the same here in Aotearoa, merely by allowing Māori to maintain their economic trajectory. Why would we want to dampen the enthusiasm of an economy accelerating at a pace much faster than the overall economy?
Māori, like our US counterparts are seeking to maximise the returns on their own investments. In some cases, they are working together to make progress on areas requiring significant gain, for example housing. But they are also collaborating to create leverage for the collective.
The National Iwi Chairs Forum have developed a singular economic strategy to guide the unified actions of its iwi members and provide a focus for change. Individual iwi like Waikato-Tainui and Ngāi Tahu have long standing international partnerships. More iwi are following.
While there is a lot that the government could do to help speed up this process, there is more that iwi can do by just doing what they are doing. Imagine what economic policy settings that proactively supported Māori would do to set the Māori economy on fire, more than it currently is doing.
What we have learned from our experiences with our indigenous brothers and sisters is that we have made a difference and continue to make a difference and with the right support can continue to make a bigger difference without threatening the sovereignty of any others in the same country.
Seeing is believing. The people of indian country in the US are leading the way, in a way that causes no harm to others. Can we do it here in Aotearoa? Yes we can, if we allow the Māori sovereign nation, recognised in the 1835 Declaration of Independence, to continue to evolve, innovate and execute economic strategies that lift the well-being of their people and therefore the well-being of all.
It’s a tired statement but “what is good for Māori, is good for everyone”. Are we really too afraid to allow Māori to thrive so that we can all thrive too?
Nigel Chee is of Waikato, Ngāti Haua and Ngāti Tūwharetoa descent. He has had extensive experience in executive management and management consultancy. Former interim deputy chief executive, Te Aka Whai Ora. Currently working for Ngāti Tūwharetoa.
Iwi Māori Partnership Boards Unite In Whakatāne To Lead Regional Health Planning
This is a joint release from Te Taura Ora o Waiariki IMPB (Te Arawa), Te Tiratū IMPB (Tainui Waka, Ngāti Haua & Mātāwaka), Te Moana a Toi IMPB (Bay of Plenty), Tūwharetoa IMPB and Te Pūnanga Ora IMPB (Taranaki)
Unveiling Community Health Plans & Hauora Māori Priorities
A third of the Iwi Māori Partnership Boards including five from the Te Manawa Taki region have united in Whakatāne to present their Community Health Plans to government officials, fulfilling their legislated function on behalf of Iwi, hapū, and whānau.
As part of the reset of Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand, Newly appointed Deputy CE and Regional Director, Catherine Cronin received the Community Health Plans and Hauora Māori Priority Reports highlighting Whānau Voices.
This information was gathered from whānau, hapū and hapori to shape individual IMPB priorities and consolidated into regional priorities to tackle the ‘grim picture’[1] of the state of Māori-health.
Front row: All the Chairpersons of 5 IMPB Boards standing with Deputy CE and Regional Director, Catherine Cronin (centre) at Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi / Supplied
“The purpose of our collective is to mahi tahi – to work together- to achieve the health and wellness aspirations of our whānau,” said Kataraina Hodge, Co-Chair of Te Tiratū IMPB.
Collectively, the 6 boards serve a combined Māori population of 285,560.
“Our role is not only integral, but fundamental to the success of Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand and the system’s responsiveness to Māori health needs,” said Louisa Wall, Chair of Tūwharetoa IMPB.
The IMPB are responsible for assessing, monitoring, planning and represent local Māori perspectives on the design and delivery of services and public health interventions within localities.[2]
Their shared priorities focus on public and population health, primary and community care, hospital and specialist services and priorities, workforce, data and funding appropriation for a redesigned delivery model.
“We are all experiencing the same levels of high health need for our whānau so the strategic emphasis into the prevention and health promotion space is essential to make meaningful progress,” Hodge said.
Each IMPB collected the voices of whānau through workshops and surveys, blending these insights with data from Te Whatu Ora and Primary Health Organisations to develop comprehensive, evidenced-based reports for each rohe.
This effort upholds the IMPB’s statutory responsibility in their relevant localities.
Te Punanga Ora Iwi Māori Partnership Board - Community Health Plan
TE PUNANGA ORA IWI MĀORI PARTNERSHIP BOARD
COMMUNITY HEALTH PLAN
30 September 2024
Te Punanga Ora Iwi Māori Partnership Board - Hauora Māori Priorities
TE PUNANGA ORA IWI MĀORI PARTNERSHIP BOARD
HAUORA MĀORI PRIORITIES SUMMARY REPORT
30 September 2024
Te Punanga Ora head says National plan will result in poorer health for whānau
National’s threat to gut Māori health partnership boards would lock in poorer health for whānau, says the head of Taranaki’s board.
Iwi-Māori partnership boards were set up under last year’s health reforms, and Te Whatu Ora – Health New Zealand needs their agreement to sign off local health plans.
National’s health spokesperson Dr Shane Reti said if his party wins the election, the partnership boards will lose that influence and be demoted to the same level as any other local health sector group.
“An iwi-Māori partnership board will be collaborative at the provider level along with every other major stakeholder. That includes hospitals, that includes all of the NGOs, every major provider of community care.”
Taranaki’s board is Te Punanga Ora, and its chairman Te Pahunga Davis said National’s plan left him “shattered”.
“It’s like one step forward, 10 steps back.”
Davis also served on the previous iwi relationship board which advised the Taranaki District Health Board on Māori health.
“For 21 years under National, under Labour, we got nothing, no movement. The lifespan remained the same, the health determinants for Māori were poor and remained poor.”
“It was lip service at best… You could design a health strategy and people would look at it and say, ‘Oh, yeah’, and carry on doing what they were doing. If we have a reversion to that, things will remain the same.”
In 2022, the Pae Ora Act set up iwi-Māori partnership boards and the independent Māori health authority Te Aka Whai Ora to work in parallel with the health ministry and Te Whatu Ora.
Reti has long promised to scrap Te Aka Whai Ora and said the partnership boards would lose their powers because they had made no difference to Māori health.
“Show me one outcome that’s better – because I’ll be very, very outcomes-focused.”
Davis said that was just political posturing.
“We’ve been going [for] five minutes. What sort of changes can you make in five minutes, for the huge moves needed? Of course there’s not going to be a momentous shift right away – we’re not even started.”
He said there had been a “gigantic shift” in Māori having a legislated say in decisions about what services they get.
“The opportunity for community voice and community involvement in the design of the system – that has been amazing.”
“We have more say in establishing priorities and getting agreement on potential service to localities.”
Labour’s Māori health spokesperson Peeni Henare recently warned that the newly enhanced say for Māori under the Pae Ora Act “is seriously at risk”.
“All it takes is a majority in Parliament – and Act and National have both said this kaupapa our people have fought so hard for [would be] gone,” he said in August.
Davis said doing away with partnership boards would face significant resistance.
“It’s legislated 15 iwi-Māori partnership boards, but there are more than 70 iwi sitting in behind them. I think that’s a long road.”
He said it was unclear how a National-led government would organise the health system at a regional and local level.
“It could be fraught. I don’t know what Reti is talking about, and I don’t think he knows what he’s talking about either.”
Reti said National hadn’t yet decided on its preferred regional health structure, but partnership boards might get a single seat at a local decision-making table.
Davis said whatever government is elected will face the same marked disparities in Māori health that have persisted for over 100 years.
A Māori pēpi born today is expected to die 7.5 years earlier than a non-Māori with the same birthday.
Māori health status trails non-Māori across almost all chronic and infectious diseases, as well as injuries, including suicide.
Mortality rates are also higher for Māori at nearly all ages. The cardiovascular disease mortality rate is twice as high for Māori as it is for non-Māori, and cancer mortality rates are 1.5 times higher.
