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.

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...

Cabinet paper proposes Treaty of Waitangi breaches

Victoria University Maori academics note "a paper prepared for Cabinet proposing the introduction of a freshwater allocation work programme would breach the Treaty of Waitangi and ignores recent Waitangi Tribunal and Supreme Court decisions in relation to Māori rights to freshwater

The Cabinet paper, dated May, 2016, includes Terms of Reference for a freshwater allocation work programme that propose three “bottom lines”: 1) “nobody owns freshwater”, 2) “no national settlement favouring iwi/hapu over other uses” and 3) “Allocation determined catchment by catchment based on resource availability, efficiency of use, good industry practice and a positive contribution to regional economic development”.

All three of these bottom lines would lead to Treaty of Waitangi breaches say Dr Maria Bargh, a senior lecturer in Te Kawa a Māui – School of Māori Studies at Victoria University, and Dr Carwyn Jones, a senior lecturer in Victoria’s School of Law.

“First of all, water is ‘owned’ in Aotearoa,” says Dr Bargh. “It is owned by Māori according to tikanga Māori, although this ownership is ignored by the Crown at the same time that the Crown allows other groups, including international companies, to make an economic profit from trading water.

“Even under common law, the statement that ‘nobody owns water’ is a gross oversimplification.”

“The Waitangi Tribunal,” Dr Jones adds, “acknowledged Māori proprietary rights in water in 2012, and these need to be acknowledged by the Crown.”

The decision of the Supreme Court in the NZ Māori Council vs Attorney General case 2013 indicated that the Crown acknowledged “Māori have rights and interests in water and geothermal resources” [145] and that these were being identified and “that no disposition or creation of property rights in water will be undertaken by the Crown without first engaging with iwi” [144].

Drs Bargh and Jones say the proposals for the freshwater allocation work programme would undermine these Crown reassurances to the Supreme Court.

In addition they say the “bottom line” proposing a catchment by catchment assessment needs to also consider the hapū and iwi of those catchments, and the onus for proving “positive contribution to regional economic development” needs to be on industry and businesses and supported by robust environmental and scientific evidence.

The Government has appointed a technical advisory group with terms of reference derived from the Cabinet paper to advise on the impact of the proposed options."

For more information contact Dr Maria Bargh on 021-025 06003 or Dr Carwyn Jones on 021 665 287 

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 

Canterbury Maori Health Stats...

Latest District Health Board Maori profile makes interesting reading.

Using the NZDep2013 index of small area deprivation, the report shows 40% of Canterbury Māori lived in the four most deprived decile areas, compared to 25% of non-Māori.

Maori and non-Maori Deprivation in Canterbury

Maori in Te Waipounamu have less access to marae than our Te Ika a Maui cousins and whanaunga...

Rates of hospitalisation for mental disorders were 38% higher for Māori than for non-Māori, and we know the post-disaster landscape is still negatively impacting on our mental health in Otautahi.

"Among Māori females, the most common cause of admission was mood disorders, with 50 admissions per year on average.  The rates of admission for bipolar disorders and depressive episodes were higher for Māori women than for non-Māori women, as was the admission rate for anxiety or stress related disorders.

Among Māori males, the overall admission rate was 61% higher than the non-Māori rate. Admissions for schizophrenia type disorders were the most common, at a rate 2.6  times that of non-Māori. The second most common cause of admission was for mood disorders, with a rate 48% higher than the non-Māori rate, followed by substance use disorders. Admissions for anxiety or stress-related disorders were 65% higher than the non-Māori admission rate." (p. 26-27).

Full Report:
Robson B, Purdie G, Simmonds S, Waa A, Andrewes J, Rameka R. 2015. Canterbury District Health Board Māori Health Profile 2015. Wellington: Te Rōpū Rangahau Hauora a Eru Pōmare.

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

National Statement of Science Investment 2015–2025

The government has launched a new science strategy in its efforts to harness our national intelligences and curiousities to the yoke of economic growth.

Matauranga Maori features, as it has done for several strategic statements now, dating back to the original Vision Matauranga strategy, 'To unlock the innovation potential of Maori et cetera, et cetera...



Couple of interesting points in the latest government interpretations of Maori practices and knowledge:

Kaitiakitanga – an emerging approach to environmental management based on traditional Māori principles, concepts, values and views of the environment.

I agree Kaitiakitanga is evolving but to say it is emerging is only true in the sense that the government is increasingly willing to incorporate Kaitiakitanga into its wider environmental management strategies. The risk is that funding and state support is now open to new interpretations including the thoughts and practices of Pakeha. I say this having witnessed a dramatic increase in the numbers and seniority of Pakeha researchers appropriating VM funding and therefore assuming key roles in 'unlocking our potential'.

I remain skeptical until process and personnel our within our control...

As for Matauranga, an articulated extension in its ambit is announced:

Mātauranga Māori – is a body of knowledge first brought to New Zealand by Polynesian ancestors of present-day Māori. Mātauranga Māori can exist, and be understood and applied, at various levels, including: broadly by Māori across New Zealand; or at regional, tribal, and whānau levels. Mātauranga Māori can also include the processes for acquiring, managing, applying and transferring that body of knowledge.

Yes. In other words our cultural logics are now to be explicitly included in how knowledge held by and relevant to the Indigenous People of Aotearoa New Zealand is controlled.

Lot of battles yet to come, and perhaps the Crown is naive to the implications of this statement, but as the right to decide what is true is related to the right to decide what is just, then game on. 

PS: Interesting list of submitters

Te Ture Whenau reform...

...process is screwed, natch.

Carwyn Jones notes this and more at...

https://ahikaroa.wordpress.com/2015/08/03/te-ture-whenua-maori-reform/

Process always screwed, which is no excuse (and might be fundamental to rectifying ongoing confusiuon).

I think the key point Carwyn makes is the introduction of new terms, which I would take further and say the terms will naturally go through a period of being empty signifiers (and it might be a permanent state). 

Think of kaitiakitanga which is 'seen' (i.e., through the eyes and history of Pakeha via the courts) and can't but default to whatever iwi (authorities) say it is and manifest as what they 'do' on their own lands and waters.

Empowering devolution of internal Maori sovereignty down to hapu, marae and then whanau scales must be ultimate goal.

Doubt a reformed Act will answer that challenge.

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?!

2014 Election: the ongoing disengagement of the electorate

I haven't posted anything on the politics of Aotearoa NZ in the lead up to this election - there are more informed Maori researchers than myself who are posting on this - but the following graphic paints a stark picture of disengagement.

The seemingly endless revelations of sleeze, corruption and bullying may contribute to this malaise but I have a sneaking suspicion young people were disengaging way before the scandals.

It's become a trait of my generation (born in '65, tailend of the baby boomers) to bemoan 'young people today...'

Well, they're our kids, our nephews and nieces, our employees and our students. Did we expect them to follow in our footsteps as civic-minded citizenry?! Other than voting and paying our taxes, what did my generation do for the country?

I think we've all become complacent. We took our clean-ness and green-ness for granted and now face massive costs to retain what's left of the environment. Education is increasingly costly and uneven in its quality. Kids are eating shit food, racism and sexism are ingrained, the mainstream media is peddling trivia and its just getting harder and harder to believe in government and the corporate sector even like us.

Hard rain's gonna fall...

Huihuinga Wahine: Speech by Vicky Robertson at the Maori Women Leadership Summit

A speech from Vicky Robertson, Deputy Chief Executive of Treasurey, reiterates current political-economic discourse on the NZ economy and the place of the Maori economy within NZ Inc.

Robertson (Ngai Tahu) is confident the NZ will ride on the Asian expansion in the medium term but notes our GDP is 15% lower than the OECD average. Further, she highlights the relatively poor indicators for Maori though doesn't unpack this, indeed the salvation seems to lie in greater productivity as reported by MAF a couple of years ago:

• only 20 percent of Maori land was well developed. 
• If the productivity of the remaining 80 percent of that land was brought up to average industry benchmarks it could generate an extra $8 billion in gross output over 10 years
• this equals $11,600 for every Maori living in New Zealand.

The BERL report is of course mentioned - I've posted on this before - but comments that the Maori economy is 'bold, brown and on the move' makes it sound like a healthy bowel movement!

Culture, and our relationship building expertise, is elevated yet again as the advantage we possess as a people. I don't accept that our culture is a necessary and sufficient condition for our development (technically I'd accept culture as an insufficient but necessary conditions that are themselves unnecessary but sufficient, a classic INUS variable) Robertson then goes on to talk about lifting education outcomes for Maori, a necessary piece of the puzzle for individuals and whanau.

All good stuff.

But we're in the midst of a paradox where standing still is going backwards yet our traditions are what make us. Of course we're adaptable - woe betide those Indigenous Peoples who won't change! - but it seems no matter what compromises we make, poverty tracks us like a hungry beast.

And lets not fool ourselves into thinking all Maori can tap into this Maori Economy. We are split along similar lines to Pakeha, with ruling elites and proles.

Sigh.


Anyways, yesterday I went on a tour of Ngai Tahu farms as part of Lincoln University's Whenua Kura programme. Massive scale (I'd argue it's the biggest Indigenous development in the world at the moment) with huge expectations for a) profit, b) employment for tribal members, and c) sustainability.

I'll post on this soon, with pix...

New Nat MP cheekily gives National credit for Maori economy

Claudette Hauiti is certainly starting to pay her way in her new job :)

Of course this discourse discounts disparate dissent from several generations of Maori who fought, argued, debated and ultimately demanded an acknowledgement of the injustices forced upon Maori.

MP gives National credit for Maori economy

And given the current poor state of Maori in the house of NZ Inc., the so-called Maori economy is nowhere near providing adequately for us as a people.

Ka whawhai tonu...

Google news alerts: 'Maori economy'

Latest pluckings from the ether...

Maori business leaders sharpen skills NZ City The Maori economy was valued in 2010 at $37 billion. "Knowledge is key to our development. It's important that our Maori leaders have access to international ... See all stories on this topic »

Maori explore Icelandic fish processing scheme Radio New Zealand A conference on Maori industry will consider adopting an Icelandic fishing model here that could boost New Zealand's economy. It's one of several talking points ... See all stories on this topic »

Waka Maori surges forward into the future Scoop.co.nz (press release) “Our Māori economy is booming, conservatively valued at $38 billion and growing and economists have forecast an extra twelve billion dollars in GDP per ... See all stories on this topic »

As a primer (and I've posted on this before), this Maori economy (as modeled by BERL) is estimated to have an asset base of in 2010 Maori of at least $NZ36.9 billion, comprising:
•     $5.4bn of assets attributable to the enterprises of nearly 12,920 Maori self- employed.
•     $20.8bn of assets attributable to the enterprises of 5,690 Maori employers.
•     $10.6bn of assets of Maori Trusts, Incorporations, Organisations, Boards, PSGEs, MIOs and Iwi/Rünanga holding companies.

Soooo under a third of this economy is regularly discussed, as by Minister Sharples in San Francisco this week for the Amerika's Cup. All well and good BUT the bulk of this economy is owned and operated by self-employed Maori and Maori employers who may well require different policies to the Maori Trusts et al. who are primarily within the primary sector.

Their concerns do not seem to be the concerns of Maori economic discourse.

Item 2 is interesting for the poor results Maori fisheries have netted (groan...) in the past year with the failed Argentinian JV.

As ther great Reggae singer Jimmy Cliff sang, 'I got a hard road to travel, and a long long way to go...'

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).

NZ R&D ... if we're standing still, we're going backwards

Its the Red Queen dance, despite what Minister for Everything St Joyce says.

While government called businesses bluff, our actual commitment as an economy is flat and while inflation is low, it ain't zero.

And the relevance for the Maori economy?

We're embedded within this stumbling, penny-pinching innovation ecosystem with mediocre leadership and no strategic plan for improvement.

I've searched the released docs for any mention of Maori but we're not there despite the (relatively small) Matauranga Maori fund.

Latest Maori unemployment data: is this good news?

December quarter Household Labour Force Survey (HLFS) is out. Headlines will read a drop in unemployment, lead funnily enough, by Maori...

Unemployment rate by ethnicity, Dec Q, 2012

But this reduction comes from a decline in those looking for work, as shown by the data for employment rates...

Employment rate by ethnicity, Dec Q 2012

So, where are people going? Or what are they doing?

Difficult to see how NZ economy can grow from these figures.

Latest Maori unemployment figures dire...

Latest Household Labour Force Survey for the September quarter shows a rise in Aotearoa/NZ's unemployment to 7.3%.

The rise is reported as 'unexpected', a statement which merely highlights the empirical and methodological ignorance of current economics.

For Maori, we're back to the levels last seen in the worst of the GFC (Global Financial Crisis): 15.1%.

Considering how many of us have joined the exodus to Ahitereiria [jobless rate in Oz unchanged at 5.4%], this is a staggeringly bad result. Also, given the general confidence and excitement of this years FOMA conference, this result reinforces the two-speed Maori economy. A select and lucky few are doing very well; the great majority are not, and in fact seem to be in a downward spiral.

Expect the usual platitudes.

Hard rains gonna fall...Again

I posted awhile back on the declining Maori and Pasifika media wage. Coupled with high unemployment from these two communities and it’s easy to see why the government (mainly in the increasingly bizarre persona of PM John Key) retains a certain degree of popularity.

Quite simply, mainstream New Zealand, aren't carrying their load which is disproportionately shouldered by Maori and Pasifika communities.

But before this mainstream cries foul, let visit current political economic debate and its examination of the exchange rate.Two camps are evident.

The first argue that the exchange rate is too high by which is meant the $NZ dollar is somehow falsely valued by international exchange of the Kiwi, currently 82 US cents to our dollar. This makes are goods more expensive and more difficult for our exporters to compete. One option is for the Reserve Bank of NZ to cut the Official Cash Rate (currently at a record low of 2.5%) although proponents accept restrictions would be needed to diffuse the risk of runaway house prices.

While it is widely accepted our dollar is overvalued (perhaps by 20%), and that a correction will take place one day, the second camp argue that manipulating the $NZ exchange rate is too difficult - indeed possibly beyond the tools and competence we have at our disposal - and doomed to (expensive) failure. The current Minister of Finance lives in this tent. In a recent interview, he recommits to a floating exchange rate and accepts it may go even higher.

While this may seem a good thing if you are buying imports (which we all do as this includes petrol) or travelling offshore, we're a trading nation and need to sell more - and make more profit from what we do sell - to cover our debts and presumably pay them off.

But here's the kicker. As the minister goes on to explain: "... reducing [the exchange rate] would reduce the standard of living of all New Zealand households."

Maybe. But as we already know, the burden of recession is carried on Maori and Pasifika shoulders. The correction will come. And our people will be even poorer.

As an interesting parallel, a recent article in The Guardian notes that the 'dismembering of the welfare state is presented as a technocratic exercise of 'balancing the books' '. In this way Bill English and John Key both speak of the current reforms as being a necessary exercise. 'Democracy is neutered in the process and the protests against the cuts are dismissed.' Just as in Christchurch. The description of the externally imposed Greek and Italian governments as "technocratic" is the ultimate proof of the attempt to make the radical rewriting of the social contract more acceptable by pretending that it isn't really a political change. Be under no illusions, political change is taking place in Aotearoa?NZ in the form of even more radical wealth transfer from the have-not-enoughs to the have-plenty's.

Hard rains gonna fall.

Christchurch School Mergers and Kura Kaupapa Maori

Rapid explosion of Facebook comments on the proposal to merge the two Kura Kaupapa in Otautahi, and merge and close many of those schools affected by the earthquakes. I know one of those kura has lost just ten pupils - hardly a threat to their operations and they expect to grow their roll through the rebuild, now picking up somewhat.

There is, of course a strong economic rationale for the proposed closures and mergers. [the rationale is that NZ is broke and getting broker ;)]

There's always a strong economic rationale for drastic change in recessionary times.

MP for Te Tai Tonga, Rino Tirakatene, has said "You betcha Labour opposes this merger...Sure, Labour realises that there had to be a change in Canterbury post-earthquake, but not like this. Not without proper consultation. Theres a way to deliver bad news! Hekia delivered hers from the Enola Gay ! I'd like to think my Labour colleagues have more of a heart than the Nats."

[Was going to correct the typos but maybe it shows our MP is really busy as opposed to not being able to write right...] [oh and decided not to point out Labour's approach to troublesome natives, arresting due legal process and legislating away our rights: pot, kettle, black ay bra] [oh oh, the Enola Gay was the US Airforce plane from which dropped the first atomic bomb...]

Government consultation processes have always been loaded against Maori; the current government merely compounds this by the scale and breadth of their disdain in what is clearly a process entered to bolster the government's position in any court action (re: assets sales and water rights) and achieve - for the Chch school's proposal - a designated outcome.

[what does it mean when a government coalition member slams government approach to consultation?!]

At the risk of sounding melodramatic, there's something rotten at the heart of this government, and with all due respect to MP Rino, I'm far from convinced that Labour has any more heart than National (I suspect they retain strong proponents of neoliberal economics within their ranks). The Prime Minster's performance in supporting the thoroughly tarnished John Banks is the latest incarnation of a leadership that thinks their wealth is proof positive they're cleverer than the rest of us.

Anyway, taking the kids to tomorrow's protest at the Bridge of Remembrance. The names carved in that stone, while they wouldn't've all supported Maori language schooling, fought for a fairer world.