Report on Pasifika contribution shows need for more investment

Students from the SaintzUp Performing Arts group welcome guests at the Pacific Aotearoa Summit in Auckland. Photo / Supplied

Pacific leaders have gathered in Auckland to discuss issues affecting the community in New Zealand - and what needs to be done as a result.

More than 350 people from the different Pasifika communities are at the Pacific Aotearoa Summit being held at Eden Park today.

The event started in true Pacific style - with a prayer and blessing from Rev Elder Lucky Slade.

A vibrant and colourful display of the different Pacific and Māori cultures was then presented through traditional song and dance by young people from the SaintzUp Performing Arts.

Finance Minister Grant Robertson took the stand afterwards; officially releasing the New Zealand Pacific Economy report, which showed Pasifika individuals and businesses contribute up to $8 billion to the country's Gross Domestic Product.

Students from the SaintzUp Performing Arts group. Photo / Supplied

Robertson said it was the first study of its kind and later told media he had been "surprised'' at the figure.

He acknowledged that the report's findings would help Government to understand how they could continue to help and engage with this community.

"The really important thing is to take what we now know and use that across every single Government agency.

"For me, that's the really significant thing. Now we know what the facts are. We know the Pacific community contributes a lot to the New Zealand economy.

"But on a per person basis, the incomes are lower than average."

Findings in the report - which surveyed 1500 Pacific Island people from around the country - showed the average income of a Pacific person was $40,300.

The average income for non-Pasifika is $53,000.

"What that's about is improving our educational outcomes - investing more there - giving opportunities for Pacific people to run their own businesses, to be able to be part of grabbing hold of new technology as well,'' Robertson said.

"What the report shows us is there's no shortage of talent, there's no shortage of contribution or assets. It's now up to all of us to work together to lift those individual incomes and those family incomes.''

Top MasterChef judge and chef Monica Galetti speaking at the Pacific Aotearoa Summit in Auckland. Photo / Supplied

'I KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE TO HAVE HOLES IN MY SHOES'

A number of guest speakers were also invited to share about their lives.

One of the most poignant speeches of the day came from top international chef Monica Galetti.

Born in Samoa before her family migrated to New Zealand when she was a child, the MasterChef judge spoke of the struggles they - like many others during those times, in the early 1980s - faced as new migrants.

"I know what it's like to have holes in my shoes.

"I've been through Christmases ... [where] my mother is in tears because we don't have presents under the Christmas tree.''

Galetti, who has been based in the UK for about 20 years, paid tribute to her parents and particularly her mother who died from cancer a few years ago.

She stressed the importance of "being present'' and acknowledged that for many Pasifika parents in those times - and today - working long hours to support families was the norm.

Galetti and husband David Galetti last year opened their own restaurant, based in London, and named it Mere - after Galetti's mother.

"I owe that much to her."

Minister for Pacific Peoples, Aupito William Sio, also launched the Pacific Aotearoa Vision.

It reflected the changing demographics of Pacific peoples in NZ and their increasingly important cultural, economic and social contribution to Aotearoa.