The next Monday night I attended a forum at Baycourt with about 200 other, mostly Pakeha people, entitled Tauranga Moana Treaty Settlements - Right-on or Rip-off.
It was organised by Tommy Kapai Wilson, who is a member of Te Kohinga, a group of Christians committed to reconciliation between Maori and European.
The three main speakers were Antoine Coffin (Ngati Ranginui), Charlie Tawhiao (Ngai Te Rangi) and Awanui Black (Ngati Pukenga) and all had been involved in their iwi's settled or ongoing Treaty negotiations.
I gained the impression the audience was one which was prepared to listen, but wouldn't hesitate to ask the hard questions.
Antoine gave the main presentation and, wow, did he impress the audience. He is clearly a highly intelligent and empathetic person able to operate equally well in the Pakeha and Maori worlds. You could feel the audience's confidence growing the longer he spoke.
Then came question time, and a man in front of me asked a big, important and loaded question" "Did Maori want to see Port of Tauranga be the biggest in New Zealand." Antoine replied: "Yes we do. What's good for the majority of the population is good for us, and in so many what's good for us will be good for the community, so yes."
Similar questions were dealt with to what appeared to be the audience's satisfaction.
There were some influential people in the room, and I hear they were impressed with all the iwi leaders, and their vision of the shared future.
In addition to the Treaty-related leadership shown by iwi leaders, there are other excellent examples of business leadership shown by Maori in our community. Last weekend at the Bay of Plenty Exports Awards, the judges chose Hemi Rolleston, CEO of Te Awanui Huka Pak, as this year's winner of the Bay of Plenty Polytechnic Export Achievement Award, against stiff competition.
At a recent Maori Economic Development Conference, a wide variety of speakers showed the huge awareness Maori have on the imperative for growing their people's business skills, productivity and education.
The Tauranga Maori Business Association is chaired by Buddy Mikaere and is growing steadily as the benefits of membership and networking attract more Maori entrepreneurs.
The Maori leaders I know all share a common belief - that their people cannot prosper in isolation. To be successful there must be engagement with the Pakeha world, and that means some change will be needed. However, it goes both ways and if Pakeha are willing to partner with Maori for mutually successful prosperity, they will need to better understand the Maori worldview and values. The first step is understanding that the Treaty settlements was never about the money.
Opportunity and risk are two sides of the same coin and, for Pakeha and Maori, success will not only be about taking small steps - it will necessitate taking risks - and that means a leap of faith.
Max Mason is chief executive of Tauranga Chamber of Commerce, which provides networking and support services for local businesses. He can be contacted on email: max@tauranga.org.nz or phone: (07) 577 9823
