New Zealand Maori Council Executive Director Matthew Tukaki came to Turanganui-a-Kiwa/Poverty Bay to speak about suicide, racism and Oranga Tamariki. Picture by Paul Rickard
Matthew Tukaki is the executive director of the New Zealand Maori Council (NZMC).
He came to Gisborne earlier this week to speak about Oranga Tamariki, suicide, racism and constitutional reform.
It was a small crowd of about 20 Maori and non-Maori at the hui but all the people in the audience were part of the discussions.
Mr Tukaki set the scene by explaining the history of the NZMC.
“NZMC has been around for a long time. It has been popular at times and grossly unpopular at others,” Mr Tukaki said.
“Council of Maori came into being in 1831 when a group of Ngapuhi chiefs in the Te Tai Tokerau, who had a problem with the encroachment of foreigners coming to the North, got together.
“They sent a letter to King William IV seeking partnership — that went on to become the Declaration of Independence in 1835 which involved James Busby.
“Busby didn't care about Maori — he cared about interests far greater than ours.
“That was to establish trade relationships that favoured the English Crown.
“That turned into the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840.”
NZMC was set up by the Maori Community Development Act 1962.
NZMC policies have tackled Treaty recognition, language retention, fishing interest, papakainga housing, resource management, land administration and taxation and youth crime.
Its court cases have led to legislation on fisheries, forestry and land, electoral amendments, the claw-back of former state assets on Treaty settlements and broadcasting.
“We are an old organisation that has been around for a long time and we end up coming back to life to push back against the interests of the Crown, especially if it doesn't benefit Maori.”
There are 16 districts of the Maori Council, of which Tairawhiti is one.
“Within each of those districts there are Maori committees. The very basic foundation of a Maori organisation is not those who sit at the top — the chiefs — it's about those who are down on the ground who experience the issues,” Mr Tukaki said.
Maori are elected onto the NZMC every three years.
“We are the only Maori organisation that is a statutory authority and that is because of the Maori Community Development Act of 1962, which also allows us to play a governor role when it comes to the New Zealand Maori wardens.
“There is a section of the Act, section 18, which is the section of intervention and we've been using that as the NZMC, very liberally, over the last two years to push back against the Crown on pretty much every kaupapa that is going on.
“We are now dealing with 46 kaupapa areas across the country, and that has made us the most active Maori Council since the 1960s. We also partner with other Maori organisations that have an interest in getting stuff done.”
NZMC is funded by the Government.
Mr Tukaki does not get paid for the NZMC work he does.
He spoke about Oranga Tamariki and asked everyone the question “what is the operating environment we are actually wanting to change within Oranga Tamariki?”
“I'm on the record saying the guardian of a child shouldn't be an Oranga Tamariki employee.”
He said a “by-Maori for Maori approach is what's needed”.
He explained the system of procurement within government agencies and how it impacts Maori.
He spoke about how organisations outsource contracts to seemingly-Maori entities which sometimes go to organisations that have just “slapped on a Maori name to secure the funding for Maori initiatives,” he said.
“That's a reality we are facing here.
“How do we change the procurement system to ensure Maori receive the funding directly, not indirectly through a third party?
“Once the operations go through a third party and it gets to the end user, about 50 cents in every dollar is gone.
“What does that 50-cents left-over in every dollar get a whanau who are struggling with issues that those organisations are meant to help with?”
He spoke about how, if you're a social worker working for a Maori organisation, you might get up to 25 percent less than your counterparts in non-Maori organisations.
“There is a real problem of pay equity imbalance.
“We need to re-engineer the procurement system to ensure it is equitable for all providers including Maori. A minimum of 90 cents in the dollar should be provided to the end-user.
“Listening to the people, not talking to them, is what the community needs.”
NZMC uses section 18 of the Act to advocate on behalf of those groups.
“NZMC do the job our forebears always set us up to do, which was to advocate.”
Mr Tukaki spoke about how he fell into suicide prevention work 11 years ago when his best friend died by suicide.
He spoke about his experience of being at the helm of mental health and suicide prevention in Australia during which time he was involved with the reformation of the structures dealing with these issues.
“At the stage before I took over in Australia, it had the highest indigenous suicide rate in the world.
“Sadly that rate has been transferred here — Maori have the highest suicide rate per population anywhere in the Western world.
“Hauora providers get a lot of money, but the suicide rate in New Zealand, especially for Maori men, has been increasing.
“We are seeing a trend where Maori men over the age of 50 are taking their own lives.
“We need to understand that mental health includes the issues that everyday life can create for people.
“It's very much about things like not having a job which can put you in a deep dive into depression.
“This is a significant problem,” he said.
“There's an opportunity to organise, design and develop local community movements around suicide prevention and mental health support.
“We need to find a way in which Maori can trust what is going on in the room when they come to speak about how they feel.
“People can help, but we can't until we know what is going on.
“We don't look for support from traditional suicide prevention strategies because we weren't involved in building them.
“If we could build a suicide prevention and mental health awareness programme here in Tairawhiti, what would that look like? What do you need here?”
Mr Tukaki spoke about racism and said “we all know what racism is — we live and breath it every day.
“It's not unique to us, it is a horrible thing.
“We often talk about how the system is racist. This is a symptom of a system we didn't design.”
Mr Tukaki said it was time to start the conversation about constitutional reform.
“We had no involvement in the design and that is why its time for constitutional reform.
“One of the biggest issues is that it's not created by us.
“The missionaries were first here and they were governed by the doctrine of discovery which gave them the right to ignore everything we said.”
Maori were not Christians which meant they could disregard everything about the indigenous people.
“It wasn't just New Zealand — it was every country around the world.”
“We have a Parliament that makes up laws and they get away with whatever they want.
“We don't have something we can push back against.
“When it comes to the Treaty of Waitangi — yes, it is a foundation document but it's not recognised as a constitution.
Mr Tukaki said there was an opportunity to have a national conversation on constitutional reform because the Queen could pass away in the next few years.
“Other Commonwealth countries have already started the process of moving into a different system.
“Why are we not having that same conversation?
“We could wait for someone else to start the conversation, or we can start that conversation with all of New Zealand.
“It's up to all of us to have that conversation — it's time for that to happen.”
Mr Tukaki ended the hui by saying the NZMC's job was to take those issues Maori have and advocate for them.
“We are devolving right back to the community — if you have an idea that makes sense, don't be afraid to put it forward.
“Come to our hui and share your korero,” he said.