29 September 2007 Speech

Embargoed until Saturday 2pm delivery

Launch of Māori in Australia research report

Ngā Hau e Whā New South Wales Māori Rugby League Tournament
St Mary's Stadium, Western Sydney

I want to start by acknowledging the Aboriginal people, and in particular the Koori people of this district.

Māori have a long tradition of acknowledgment of the indigenous people of Australia. It can be seen in the way that the term many Māori choose to use for Australia is ‘Te Ao Moemoeā’, which translated means ‘The Land of Dreaming’.

I also want to acknowledge the presence of the Honourable Paul Lynch, the New South Wales Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, and Laurie Ferguson, the shadow federal Minister for Multicultural Affairs, as well as other dignitaries, Māori community leaders from here and other parts of Australia, and everyone else who has come here today to relax and watch the games or indeed to compete.

I would like to extend my thanks to the organising committee of the Ngā Hau e Whā tournament – the New South Wales Māori Rugby League – for inviting me here today to launch this report about Māori in Australia.

It’s great to see so many of our whanaunga in Australia gathered together in one place.

Tihe Mauri Ora!

Māori have been in contact with Australia for a long time. Many of our people believe there was contact with the Aboriginal people before Europeans came to this part of the globe.

After the British first settled here in Sydney – which we call ‘Poihākena’ – many Māori came here to trade, acquire new technology and learn new ideas. In fact by 1840 it’s estimated that up to 1000 Māori had visited.

It has of course been in the last 40 years or so that a big migration of Māori to Australia has taken place. It’s no surprise, really. Māori are a migratory and adventurous people, whose Polynesian forebears made amazing voyages of discovery across the Pacific.

Within New Zealand there have been big migrations too, especially in the two decades after World War II, when we changed from an essentially rural people to an urban one. It is to be expected then that in this increasingly globalised era, significant numbers of our people are seeking experiences and opportunities across the Tasman.

One interesting fact though is that, here in Australia in 1986, there were three times as many Australian-born than New Zealand-born Māori in the over-65 age bracket. That shows that our people have maintained a longstanding and unbroken presence here since that early colonial contact.

Given the numbers of Māori now in Australia it was high time for us to undertake a study of the outlooks and intentions of our people here, and thus it was fortuitous that one of my staff – Paul Hamer – was offered a visiting fellowship at Griffith University in Brisbane.

We supported that study through setting up an online survey and ensuring that Paul made it to visit Māori communities in every state. Over 1200 Māori right across Australia filled the survey in – the chances are that that includes many of you here today. The report marks the most thorough consideration of the Māori population in Australia to date and to that extent it plugs a gap in our knowledge.

What we’ve found out is that the Māori population here is now at least 100,000. We know the latest census says 93,000, but we know also from the research undertaken for this report that many people whose Māori identity is not in question don’t write ‘Māori’ on the census form.

Māori in Australia have come here for the working opportunities and to see something of the world, in much the same way that their parents or grandparents might have moved from small rural communities in New Zealand to the cities.

They’ve generally found the experience of moving here rewarding – they’ve been well accepted by their Australian hosts and they’ve built a reputation as very hard workers.

For many of them the experience of moving here has reinforced the strength of their Māori identity. Many say they now pine for their language and access to knowledge of their customs.

What the report reminds us is that a significant proportion of the Māori population now live outside of New Zealand, and that we need to give some thought to what that means.

There are ways that Māori in New Zealand can gain an advantage from so many of our people doing well in Australia, and there are probably also ways we can provide encouragement to Māori over here in the pursuit of their community and cultural goals.

I think many iwi organisations already recognise this, and it’s been pleasing to see the extent to which some such bodies are already actively engaging with their tribal members in Australia.

One thing I note is that the great majority of Māori who move to Australia do not become citizens – that’s because they want to remain citizens of New Zealand only or because they simply don’t see the need.

Of course not being a citizen in Australia means you can’t vote, so it’s an issue that our people need to consider carefully. But it’s clear that the attachment of Māori in Australia to New Zealand remains very strong.

More than 60% of survey respondents said they definitely or probably will live in New Zealand again. Even amongst the Australian-born, the majority said they intended to live in New Zealand again at some point.

Well I hope so! I know many of you have established whānau here and some of you have mokopuna who were born here which has encouraged you to put down permanent roots.

But for those of you who are seriously considering returning to New Zealand to live, there are plenty of good reasons why you may want to return home sooner rather than later!

You may be aware that Labour-led government I am a part of in March this year launched at updated campaign in Australia to encourage New Zealanders living here to return home. The "New Zealand Now" campaign involved television, newspaper and internet promotion and was designed to encourage our people to return home and to let them know there is plenty of work available.

With our strong economy, low unemployment levels and skills shortages across many sectors, New Zealand is currently well-placed to attract people back into our workforce.

Nearly a decade of strong economic growth has created hundreds of thousands more jobs in our country and helped reduced unemployment to its lowest level in 27 years.

Māori unemployment is at record low and has more than halved since 1999 when it was 18.6 per cent. It is now just 7.7 per cent. There are now 35,000 fewer Māori on an unemployment benefit that there were then.

Māori are taking every opportunity to move ahead and the Labour-led government is working with them.

New family support initiatives such as Working for Families are also making a big difference to the quality of life of our whānau.

Working for Families is putting an extra $392 a fortnight into the hands of a family with three children earning $35,000 a year or less. A family earning $50,000 with three children will get $276 extra a fortnight under the package. Each of those families which is working also qualifies for an additional $120 a fortnight in in-work payments.

Under the Labour-led government all New Zealanders are now eligible for half price doctors' visits and most prescriptions are now just $3.

We've extended paid parental leave to 14 weeks, introduced 20 hours free early childcare for three and four year-olds and changed the law to ensure people get four weeks holiday a year.

Alongside all of this is what our Prime Minister Helen Clark recently described as "nothing less than a renaissance" of Māori art, language, education, business and culture.

Māori language programming is regularly heard on Radio NZ and the use of te reo Māori is an increasing feature of its English language programming, including its news.

Iwi radio stations are broadcasting throughout the country and recent research shows more Māori, especially young Māori, are speaking te reo.

New Zealanders' response to the recent Māori Language Week was overwhelmingly positive and our Māori Television channel, being watched by more non-Māori than Māori, is increasingly popular and breaking new ground.

The Treaty settlement process is rebuilding Crown/ Māori relationships and we have some of the most extensive consultation mechanisms in the world, where the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi are enshrined in resource management law.

Seventeen per cent of our Parliament identifies as Māori compared with 15 per cent of the population.

Iwi economic power is increasing along with the size of their asset base and the Māori contribution to the economy has steadily increased over the last two decades.

Te Ao Māori is being increasingly recognised as a cornerstone of our distinct national identity and I can tell you many of our rangatahi are in no doubt that it's a great thing to be Māori in New Zealand today.

Both the government and our Māori community have more work to do, but I can tell you that there is a great sense of optimism amongst Māori about the future - about the ability of Māori in New Zealand to achieve their potential as Māori.

Many of you who are considering coming home will have much to contribute in this regard – you will have skills which could play an extremely valuable part in the renaissance we are experiencing.

This report will meanwhile help inform policy development as well as a better public understanding both in New Zealand and in Australia of the issues relevant to Māori living here.

My agency, Te Puni Kōkiri, will continue to work with government agencies, businesses, iwi and other organisations to foster a flow of information between Māori here and their whānau, hapū, iwi and communities at home in New Zealand.

It will also continue to expand its research and monitoring work on the Māori population to include analysis of the Australian branch of the whānau.

In the meantime I urge you all to read the report, which can be downloaded off the Te Puki Kōkiri website – www.tpk.govt.nz - because it's full of fascinating reading!

ends

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