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Thursday, June 27, 2013

Maori in Australia

New research by Tahu Kukutai (Senior Research Fellow at Waikato) shines a little more light on the living and working conditions of Maori in Australia.

Here's Tahu being interviewed on Waatea Radio.

Tahu point's out this comparatively  big economy that's just a 250 pauau JetStar squeeze away is a double-edged sword. Good money, when you get it, but life is not as secure as it was, and not as supported since 2001 through changes in Oz social security arrangements (there's a Facebook campaign going on about this now...).

1 in 2 Maori men in their prime (25-54) are labourers, machinery operators and drivers, and generally concentrated in the more volatile sectors (construction, mining) and as we see, the tide is ebbing all around the Australian shore...

Tahu reminds us to distinguish between Maori migrants and Australian born Maori - different issues and needs. And there is an in-built vulnerability in those that have moved since 2001 through their skills and employment profiles.



I don't think the migration will stop, though it is undoubtedly going to slow (as we see for Pakeha). Perhaps of wider concern is the fragility of the Chinese model - directly impacting on Oz as well.

Monday, June 10, 2013

What's the Google say...

I receive Google news updates on Maori and Indigenous 'economy' releases, a clumsy and coarse way to keep up-to-date but not without its insights...

The first item chills the blood. Morgan Godfrey posted on the debate in Parliament on this...

Sharples counting on trickle down for growth
waateanews.com
He says Dr Sharples is advocating a trickle down approach to growing the Māori economy knowing that approach has been tried and failed.
Maori Party 'has no plan for higher incomes and better jobs'
Voxy
"The Minister went as far as to support National's "trickle-down" approach to growing the economy. Maori know full-well that that approach has been tried ...
Maori Party supports Living Wage campaign
Voxy
The Maori Party has called on Government departments to support the Living ... of the strategy to turn around our economy, and to boost business and jobs.
Challenges remain for New Zealand economy: OECD
Channel News Asia
New Zealand's economy is beginning to gather momentum but "substantial" ... for the large Maori and Pacific minorities to reduce social disparities.

In many ways the various and ongoing debates on Racism in this country fail to engage in this structural flaw in Maori Party thinking. And of all countries, Aotearoa/NZ has the timeline on the last 20 years of trickle-down economics.

(oh, it doesn't work).

Wednesday, June 05, 2013

Racism Down Under

I flew out of Brisbane after watching an interesting media dissection of racism...(What I found interesting was the absence of Aboriginal input. Were they not asked, or did they decline?).

...into another debate on this side of the Tasman:


No shortage of Maori commentators of course and this delineates our two countries, echoing the absence of Aboriginal input into the ANZ Disaster and Emergency management conference I was attending in Brisbane...

For the record, I think Aotearoa/NZ is
1. Racist;
2. MORE racist than its was 10 years ago;
3. INCREASINGLY racist, with no end in sight.

What is so distressing is that it remains painfully difficult to BE Maori in the homeland of Maori, and that those who could ease (without solving) this (John Key, Susan Devoy) are so dreadfully clumsy and remarkably ignorant.

White privilege: be as dumb and as useless as you like, it won't lead to your dismissal. Might even lead to a promotion...

And what scares me is the lack of Pakeha leadership on the horizon, from both public and private sectors.

Simon Lambert

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