Maori economy update

 I started this blog to post on Maori economy data that was being released by the NZ government. That policy was sparked by Minister Pita Sharples seeking to promote the contribution Maori made to Aotearoa NZ, countering the deficit model that was prevalent. 

Latest measure has this economy up by 83% from 2018 to $125 billion.

Top players, including my own Tuhoe, are listed below (link here):

 Realise that the methodology has changed over time but the growth is impressive. Which begs the question why the ongoing negative socio-economic stats...

Anyway, loads of data to play with if you are that way inclined.

Maori unemployment UP...

Doesn't seem to be featuring in mainstream media coverage but Maori unemployment is UP in a climate of generally declining jobless. What the fuck?!

Source: http://stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/income-and-work/employment_and_unemployment/LabourMarketStatistics_HOTPJun17qtr/Related%20Links.aspx

NB: Our whanau has emigrated to Canada and I must confess to be somewhat disconnected from issues that once featured regularly on these pages which started as a an effort to catologue and collate miscellaneous data on the so-called Maori economy (which I remain highly dubious about).

I will shortly be setting up a new webpage to rationalise my various interweb contributions.

NZ Productivity (via 'Croaking Cassandra')...

A while ago, I listed Michael Reddell's blog 'Croaking Cassandra' as a good one to follow for critique's of New Zealand's macro economic performance. His has had a few posts on productivity - the measure of wealth produced per unit of effort (normally GDP/hour). The latest presents this graph:

And recall how often we compare our economic indicators to Oz?

In layman's terms we are poorer as a nation. The relevance of this to the Maori economy - always pitched as a way to grow the NZ economic pie - is that there is no extra paua's or pipi's for social programmes.

Hard rain's gonna fall.

Maori Economy on Waitangi Day

The Maori Economy discourse continues its momentum - ie the Common Knowledge on Maori economic functioning expands - yet the fragility of Maori communities remains.

Here's a good article on the diverse components of this economy, and respect to Dr. Maria Bargh on highlighting such 'under-the-radar' contributions to the PMS (Private Military Security).

But this $42b sector amounts to just over 6% of the NZ economy and as the new PM sez, the government has reached the limits of what is can (by what he means will) do for Maori. So we gotta pay our way.

User pays remember.

Downhill I'm afraid...

But there is one area where we can get an empirical understanding: "And there are stats to show that Maori business people are innovators. The rate of innovation in small to medium Maori businesses, with 100 or fewer employees, was 63%, Statistics New Zealand figures show. That is considerably higher than the 'whole' of New Zealand business rate of 49%."

'Innovation', like 'sustainability' and 'resilience' are things you just have to say you are, regardless of the definition or auditing.

An innovation is a new idea, object or activity. It can also be a rediscovered idea, object or activity (and in this conceptualisation, Indigenous Peoples can really bring some change!).

But I rarely, if ever, see commentators discuss empirical innovations.

Hybrid corn varieties were one of the classic case studies, and one Maori can identify with (Zvi Griliches work was among the seminal publications). We - as in NZers - have come up with some seriously valuable innovations in agribusiness.

But we now import considerable inputs to our main sector (Palm Kernel Extract for example). We are, if anything, late adopters of best practice agriculture. Our 'clean, green image' is now completely trashed internally and subject to dispute externally. Our increasing inequality is yet another symptom of a dysfunctional society.



And through all of this, the Maori Economy is to not just maintain our communities but improve their situation?!

Ain't gonna happen without significant transfer of wealth from individuals with wealth to those without. Which political parties promise that?

The Maori Economy 2017: Not my economy...

Anand Menon was in Newcastle speaking before the Brexit referendum. 'Invoking the gods of economics', Professor Menon argued the UK’s GDP was likely to plunge if Britain left the EU. A Geordie woman yelled out: “That’s your bloody GDP. Not ours.”'

Out of the mouths of hecklers, ay.

And therein lies the rub.

So what Maori economy?

Recall its inception by BERL (at the behest of the Minister of Maori Development). The initial model toted it up as:

• Trusts and incorporations of $4.0 billion
• Other Maori entities of $6.7 billion
• Businesses of self-employed Maori of $5.4 billion
• Businesses of Maori employers of $20.8 billion

I'd suggest few Maori are actually 'beneficiaries' (a loaded term) of this economy, and many who are, aren't picking up much of a cheque.

Fast-forward to 2017. Yes an election year, so expect lots of soundbites (including a rich white man calling a not-so-rich Maori man an Uncle Tom). The key comment for me came from the new Prime Minister, Bill English:

"[W]e have reached the limits of what government can do."

This is contrary to what Professor Jonathon Boston stated on Radio NZ (interview link here). Boston discusses evidence on the growth of poverty and the loss of opportunity for many New Zealanders through explicit government policies (from the left and the right although the mainstream left in NZ are hardly supportive of labour)

So if the government won't do more (I actually think they will, simply to maintain appearances), where are the resources to come from? I think it's quite clear that the expectation of government and many Maori leaders (iwi and business), is that Maori are to be supported by this Maori economy.

One might expect Maori to start heckling speakers such as Bill English. But not just Wee Will Pom (let's not forget his double-dipping over Parliamentary accommodation monies). Maori leaders should also be heckled over their economic naivety (ok, tikanga may prevent or at least censure traditional European heckling. And as an academic i must abide my many ancient rules that frame debates).

This Maori Economy is not the economy of many Maori at all, at all...

Maori political and business delegation off to South Korea and Japan...

Te Ururoa Flavell heads a delegation off to key trading partners South Korea and Japan.

“While Māori businesses already have trading links with these countries, this cultural and trade mission is focused on strengthening those ties and initiating new links that put relationships first, before getting down to business.”

These ventures always namecheck the 'Maori economy' and its $42 billion price tag. I've posted on this before. While not wishing to completely toss the idea of a Maori subsector in the wider NZ economy, it is an economic model 'brought forth' to serve political ends, like most economic models.

Anyway, they'll all have a ball and their businesses will probably make some more money. The business that are represented are:

Tourism: Kapiti Island Nature Tours, New Zealand Māori Tourism, Te Puia  (New Zealand Māori Arts and Crafts Institute).

Forestry: Māori Investments Limited and Te Tumu Paeroa, Opepe Farm Trust.

Food & beverage: HoneyLab (food, beverage and cosmetics), New Zealand Manuka Group. Te Awanui Huka Pak, Te Pā Family Vineyards Limited, Zespri International

Seafood: Okains Bay Seafood and Ngāi Tahu Seafood, Kahungunu Asset Holding Company Board.

Accusations of corruption

Ongoing accusations of corruption surround ex-Lincoln consultant Roger Pikia.

Seems Mr Pikia has woven a merry web of directorships and companies and has ended up in hot water....

Roger Pikia in hot water?

To be fair, this does seem to be the current modus operandi for Aoteroa NZ's politico-economic elites...

Evidence of Mr. Pikia's fraudulent past surfaced when he was employed by (now ex) Vice Chancellor Andy West. Lincoln has imploded since Dr. West's demise, with four of the DVCs of his error era having left or about to leave. Again to be fair Dr. West opened Lincoln's collectives eyes to the so-called Maori economy and he helped to launch the unfortunately still-stuttering Whenua Strategy.

We should not be surprised that a slew of Maori consultants appeared to suck at the teat of institutional largesse. Institutional racism means these institutions are poorly placed to collaborate with an economically growing and culturally distinct sector.

We can, however, be disappointed.

Very disappointed...

Unemployment by ethnicity and age...

In response to a very important comment a while ago (apologies for the delay in responding :) I tracked down this data:

We see significantly greater unemployment in Maori and Pasifika 15-24 year-olds - 28-29% - and also in the 25-34 age group.

StatsNZ post a useful, unashamed, historical overview of the impacts of neoliberalism on Maori unemployment here. A better, academic, analysis by Brian Easton is here.

Latest Maori un/employment data...

NZ Labour Force survey data in from December 2015. Headline data is unemployment surprisingly down...

Labour participation data interesting...

While Maori unemployment is down (but still double figures) our participation in employment is 

declining. Pasifika participation well up, Pakeha up. The structure of the NZ economy seems to be favouring Pasifika participation - a rapid increase - over Maori and Pakeha. This says something about the type of jobs (service sector?).

'Too much weights...'

Jake: Gee, where did you get those muscles from? Bro, you've been lifting those weights, huh?

Thug: …

Jake: What, you've done lag? Am I right?

Thug: You want to fuck with me?

Jake beats thug

Jake: You should learn to pay your respects. In case you want to know, it's Jake... Jake the Muss.

Cheers

Jake: I was right... too much weights, not enough speed work. Useless prick.
                                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                    ('Once Were Warriors, 1994)

I'm reminded of Mr. Muss' warning of too much weights, not enough speed work by a Radio NZ report on the strength of the Maori economy...

The Māori economy is doing well. It's estimated to have a shared wealth of $40 billion, with the biggest investments in the fishing, forestry and farming industries.

Yeah yeah, whateva.

The source of this is a financial firm TBD Advisory. In the words of Phil Barry

"Six of the seven iwi are doing really well in terms of their financial investments performance. Ngai Tahu and Ngati Whatua ki Orakei stand out in the last couple of years, but generally it's been a good solid performance."

My Barry has some self-interested advice:

"For any individual it's really important that they look at more independent advice around issues: what are their investment goals, what are their time horizons and what is their appetite for risk? So it will really be a question about tailoring that to each iwi's position."

And I don't disagree. The issue is the default use of Western frameworks for interpreting iwi (authority) 'success': it's a number. A number preceded by a dollar sign, associated with a number followed by a percentage sign which is how much you should 'grow'.

If this system worked, the West would be a marvelous refuge of wealth and stability, rich people would not feel scared (and hide behind barbed wire walls with armed security), and poor people wouldn't sit around the streets of the world's 'richest' cities asking for coins to feed themselves.

 Dr. Shaun Awatere along with Craig Pauling talk about this in our video on Indigenous frameworks for managing collective assets:

"The challenge for Māori carrying out development is to determine how to balance the drivers of a neo-liberal economic approach with the very ideals and principles that define us as Māori to ensure quality social and environmental outcomes for future generations."

Link to the short video here: Whakatipu Rawa Mā Ngā Uri Whakatipu | Media Centre

Epsilon Theory

I've been reading a wide range of blogs this summer (such as Croaking Cassandra, linked in a previous post) and now am linking Salient Partners 'Epsilon Theory' which has focused on China, an important trading partner for the so-called Maori Economy.

The blog gives a nice line up of US pop culture quotes (lot of nods to The Godfather). This post n particular got me thinking... The Dude Abides.

"...if you don’t recognize that the growing concentration of global wealth within a tiny set of families is a big problem and getting bigger worldwide, you’re just not paying attention. No country in the world is more vulnerable to the political problems caused by wealth inequality and concentration than China."

We talk of this inequality all the time now but Salient's point is that while in the US, inequality can be interpreted as the system working - individualistic self-interest in a capitalist system - in a communist one-party state, extreme inequality (China has always had a mass of peasants) is counter to State legitimacy. 

I was musing on this in our own backyard, that is the increasing wealth concentration among the Maori elite (confession: I am in theory one of these elites, holding a PhD. Believe me, it ain't so w.r.t. income! I earn half what a good plumber can earn. And perhaps rightly so...).

The legitimacy of Maori elites is being undermined by the growing inequality that is a function of NZ neoliberal business models. (I would argue academics are not elites in NZ society in general although some Maori professors have some sway in Te Ao Maori, more so than their Pakeha peers). However, their situation is not one of survival as it is with Chinese elites where heads can and do roll, literally. 

Here's a thesis: Maori elites are protected by Pakeha elites as they are a necessary barrier to restless Maori communities. 

We get carrots from our own - 'Work hard, get an education, be like me', and we get sticks from Pakeha - 'If you don't work hard we'll punish you, if you don't go to school, we'll punish your parents, if you don't be like us, we'll mock you...'

Other Links:

The Maori Worldview and Policy (Ross Nepia Himona, 'Te Putatara')

Annette Sykes, Maori Elite, and Neoliberalism ('Maui St.')

Treaty Politics versus Class Politics 

Ian Taylor on the 'Maori economic engine'...

Maori businessman Ian Taylor speaks out at Te Tau Ihu O Te Waka A Maui 2015 Economic Summit. Taylor thinks the Maori economic engine isn't doing enough for young Maori.

Our Pakeha friends and whanaunga could say the same about NZ Inc.

The so-called Maori economy referred to in this article stems from a model by BERL published n 2011 (based on 2010 data), updated in 2015 (based on 2013 data). The majority of this $42,573 billion 'economy' is made of Maori employers ($23,433b). $6,647b is self-employed Maori. The raw data are culled from Stats NZ census data (ie if an employer or self-employed person identifies as Maori, then their business is added to the BERL Maori economy). Trusts and Incorporations make up $12,493b. This sector is the one that most of us have a dog in the fight for, that is it is based on Maori land with Maori collective ownership.

Taylor says 'the "economic engine" comprising an estimated $40 billion in Maori-owned tourism, fisheries, agriculture, forestry and other industries was not delivering on the strategy for Maori economic development drawn up in 2012...'

Well since when did capitalist players do anything other than seek profit for their own ends (this 'profit' can include cultural outcomes of course).

I also see Taylor's sector - IT - has received specific Maori funding of $30m over 6 years. I'm not opposed to this - corporate welfare seems to be a necessary but insufficient condition for any successful economy - but why isn't that sector 'self-funding' if it is so great? (Okay, farming is also subsidised through breaks in carbon credits, and fishing had a few golden years of cheap Asian labour, and forestry gets away with, if not murder, then manslaughter...)

Ian Taylor is doing sterling work, no doubt. I guess he sits within the Maori employer bracket? And I absolutely agree with him that we need our rangatahi getting into software and robotics (indeed I wrote a futurist piece on this for a chapter on Maori leadership with my friends and colleagues Jamie Ataria and Melanie Mark-Shadbolt). 

But maybe the 29% of the Maori economy is doing all it can do?! And if each individual Maori employer or self-employed Maori hired one more Maori, and provided them with a living wage and training, well maybe that would lift this entire 'sector' in a way that would solve some of the issues he identifies?

Labour Party and the Whakapapa of Neoliberalism in Aotearoa

Had a curious Facebook experience when a Maori MP expressed his intent to challenge the PM over his government's attitude to poverty. My comment was a wee reminder that the whakapapa of neo-liberalism in this country begins with his own party...

My comment was deleted by the end of the day.

It is not advisable to be ashamed of your whakapapa. 'Tis what it is.

Until Labour accepts who and what they are - a neo-liberal attuned political party with a poor track record of helping Maori - they are no good to Maori.

Links:
Bryce Edwards: Identity politics vs class politics - 8: Neoliberalism and identity politics

David Neilson: Making History Beyond Neoliberalism: Response to Roper

Maria Bargh: Maori Development and Neoliberalism

Whakatipu Rawa Mā Ngā Uri Whakatipu

Short video on a research project headed by Dr. Shaun Awatere along with Craig Pauling and Maui Hudson ...

"The challenge for Māori carrying out development is to determine how to balance the drivers of a neo-liberal economic approach with the very ideals and principles that define us as Māori to ensure quality social and environmental outcomes for future generations. Through a previous NPM research project 'Whakatipu rawa mā ngā uri whakatipu' the team has developed a prototype decision-making framework for collective assets, which takes into account well-being indices, tikanga Māori and financial measures."

Whakatipu Rawa Mā Ngā Uri Whakatipu | Media Centre

A real joy working with these rangatira on research vital to the interests of Maori but also wider Aotearoa New Zealand.

Maori Economy updates...

Maori economy Weekly update ⋅ 18 October 2015 NEWS Māori Television Māori encouraged into the digital world to benefit Maōri economy Māori Television The digital world is changing the traditional business landscape, but now it's enticing Māori innovators. "DigMyIdea" is a contest that encourages Māori ... Flag as irrelevant SunLive Maori students head to Silicon Valley 3News NZ Hemi Rolleston, Callaghan Innovation general manager Maori economy, says the trip is a wonderful opportunity to encourage Maori children to ... Inspiration for future innovators - SunLive Full Coverage Flag as irrelevant Region dead last in economic rankings Gisborne Herald A NEW economic report shows Gisborne has the worst regional economy in New ... amenities as “potential growth areas” for the region's future economy. ... and it's still being worked on, is for the Maori economy to work together with ... Flag as irrelevant Silicon Valley, Stanford Beckon for Student Group Scoop.co.nz Hemi Rolleston, Callaghan Innovation GM Māori Economy, says the trip is a wonderful opportunity to encourage Māori children to pursue careers in ... Flag as irrelevant

Paint it red...

Who knows. But the so-called Maori economy is highly exposed to world markets. And most world markets are painted in red this week...

Wheat is up, and so are lean hogs. Beer, bread and BBQs will survive!

Unemployment to June 2015

Slight increase in Aotearoa NZ unemployment rate (to 5.9% from 5.8%), with Maori figures unchanged...

While NZ compares reasonably in the OECD, if Maori were a country ...

Maori Economy 'updated'...

BERL have updated their snapshot of the Maori economy in Te Ōhanga Māori 2013 and now interpret the Maori asset base at 42.6 billion paua, up from the 2010 figure of 36.9 billion paua...

  The primary sector still dominates, as might be expected...

The geographic distribution is interesting, with Te Puka o te Ika dominating...

The Report is interesting for many reasons, not least as a reflection of how Pakeha measure us as citizens contributing to the wider NZ economy. (I'll leave aside the obvious irony in much of this economy originating with the dispossession of Maori land and marginalisation of Maori from decision-making...).

There's a lot to say about this report, and I'll dig a little deeper this week.

One very interesting comment: assets are only truly valuable if they contribute to wellbeing.

Another very interesting thing is that the release of this report is pretty much unannounced...

We not sexy any more?!

'Maori Economy' grab bag...

	NEWS
	Māori Television Integrated approach needed for Māori economic development Scoop.co.nz (press release) He Mangōpare Amohia: Strategies for Māori Economic Development details the findings of Te Tupunga Māori Economic Development Research ... 'Integrated approach needed' for Maori economic development - Voxy Full Coverage Flag as irrelevant
	Conference provides opportunity to showcase Māori research Scoop.co.nz (press release) Conference provides opportunity to showcase Māori research ... Zealand's top research science companies and leading figures in the Māori economy. Flag as irrelevant
	waateanews.com Crown researchers reach out to Maori waateanews.com Crown research institutes are looking for better ways to engage with leading figures in the Maori economy. The seven CRIs and Callaghan Innovation ... Flag as irrelevant

Post-disaster Iwi demographic changes

The following maps were generated from census data responses to the 'Iwi' census question (in which an individual can name up to five iwi).

Maps show the change in South Island populations of selected Iwi between 2006 and 2013, in Territorial Authority districts.

Note: the scale of the dots representing population sizes vary between maps, so not all maps are visually comparable. Many thanks to Cathy Mountier for the GIS work in producing these.

Ngai Tahu

Ngati Porou

Tainui

Te Arawa

Te Ati Awa (Te Wai Pounamu)

Te Ati Awa (Taranaki)

Tuhoe