Woven Together SIR PITA SHARPLES
Woven Together SIR PITA SHARPLES
First published in March 2016 by Maxim Institute PO Box 49 074, Roskill South, Auckland 1445, New Zealand Ph (0064) 9 627 3261 | Fax (0064) 9 627 3264 | www.maxim.org.nz Copyright Š 2016 Maxim Institute ISSN 1179-4305 (softcover) ISSN 1179-4313 (PDF) ISBN 978-0-9864662-0-5 (softcover) ISBN 978-0-9864662-1-2 (PDF) This publication is copyright. Except for the purpose of fair review, no part may be stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including recording or storage in any information retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. No reproduction may be made, whether by photocopying or by any other means, unless a license has been optained from the publisher or its agent. Design and typography by CJM Design Printed in New Zealand by Presentations
Contents About Maxim Institute 5 The Annual Sir John Graham Lecture 6 Sir Pita Sharples 7 Annual Sir John Graham Lecture | Woven Together 9 Appendix: Additional Text 25
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Sir John Graham Lecture 2015
ABOUT MAXIM INSTITUTE New Zealand is a richly textured country. It has a great and colourful history and a thriving culture. Its people have inherited a vast and dynamic landscape. They know how to live and play well. Yet, New Zealand faces serious challenges. How we respond today shapes the future our children inherit tomorrow. Maxim Institute is an independent research and public policy think tank. We are committed to the people, land, history, and culture of New Zealand. We exist to promote the dignity of every person in a New Zealand characterised by freedom, justice, and compassion As a think tank, Maxim Institute engages in the following core activities: -- producing research and informed analysis of contemporary issues; -- developing and promoting sound public policy; -- communicating our research findings and policy initiatives to the decisionmakers and leaders of today; -- mentoring tomorrow’s leaders for all areas of community, political and business life; and -- equipping New Zealanders to become better informed and more effective agents of change in their community.
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THE ANNUAL SIR JOHN GRAHAM LECTURE Sir John Graham is a New Zealand hero. He has spent his life training, inspiring and mentoring young New Zealanders in education and sport, having had a celebrated and distinguished career in both fields. He has been Headmaster of Auckland Grammar School, Captain of the All Blacks and President of the New Zealand Rugby Football Union. Sir John is a dedicated leader in our nation and his passion for New Zealand has endowed this country with a brilliant legacy. Appropriately, he was recognised for his services to education and the community with a CBE in 1994, and was further honoured when he was knighted in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in 2011. Sir John Graham’s commitment to service and to this country has enriched all New Zealanders. In honour of Sir John’s life of service and contribution to public life, the Annual Sir John Graham Lecture provides an opportunity to invite leading experts to contribute to public debate in New Zealand.
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Sir John Graham Lecture 2015
SIR PITA SHARPLES Sir Pita Sharples is a true leader, with mana and experience in many areas of New Zealand’s cultural, political and academic life. First trained as a teacher, he earned a Masters and PhD in Anthropology and Linguistics, and went on to be a Professor of Education at Auckland University—receiving a CBE for services to education in 1990. He was the Iwi Leader of the Ngati Kahungunu Tribe of Wairoa-Hawkes Bay and Wairarapa from 1981 to 1990. Sir Pita is best known for his roles as founding co-leader of the Māori Party, Minister of Māori Affairs, and Associate Minister of Education and Corrections. Described as “kaumatua to the nation,” Sir Pita has played a key role in the Māori renaissance of the last 40 years, operating as a bicultural advocate while working to reconnect Māori with the treasures of their cultural history. Founding CEO of the Race Relations Office, he spearheaded the first intertribal urban marae, and was a significant figure in the development of the kura kaupapa movement, the New Zealand School of Māori Weaponry, and the award winning Te Roopu Manutaki Māori cultural group. Member, advisor, and chairman of countless boards, initiatives, and advisory boards, his achievements are as varied as they are numerous.
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Sir John Graham Lecture 2015
Annual Sir John Graham Lecture Auckland, 24 July 2015 Sir Pita Sharples
Tēnā koutou katoa. Kei te mihi au ki a koutou i whai taima ki te haramai ki konei i tēnei po, kia noho tahi ai tātou i roto i te whare nei. Māku ētahi kōrero ki a koutou, mā tātou e whakawhitiwhiti kōrero, ngā pātai me ērā tu momo āhuatanga e pirangi ana e koutou. Sir Graham, tēnā koe. Ngā tauira i kōkirihia te huarahi tēnei ka tū au ka whai atu i a koe. Greetings to you all. Greetings to you all who found the time to come here tonight so that we could all be here in this house together. I have a range of topics to speak to you all about tonight which will no doubt raise questions, which will then lead on to more discussions. Sir Graham, greetings to you. I am pleased to be following a person of your calibre. You’ve set the path before us which I have followed which leads me here today, thank you. Tonight I’m trying to be honest with you. Clearly you trust me, that’s why you are here and you’ve paid bucks to come here and be with me, so I know you do trust me. Now I want you to understand me. Woven Together
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The year was 1960, my final year at Te Aute Māori Boys College. It was on a Friday afternoon when I received a letter from my mother. My mother often wrote to me at College. It was a boarding school but this letter was different to all previous letters. I opened the letter and I gazed down at the words. The tears rolled down my face. Her beautiful writing was still the same, the sentiments were the same, but the letter was written in Māori. This was the first time my mother ever communicated to me in our native language; the language of my ancestors. Just let me explain. In our village Takapau, all our Māori parents spoke to each other only in Māori—their mother tongue. They spoke to us kids in English with a bit of a Māori accent (or big Māori accent; we’d go to school and hear different English). My mother and thousands of mothers and fathers were physically punished and strapped for speaking Māori in the school grounds during the 1920’s, 30’s, and 40’s. Along with the Tohunga Suppression Act 1908 and other colonising implements, Te Reo Māori was relegated to yesterday’s language. My mother had heard me speaking Māori during my Te Aute years but this was the first time that she broke the shackles of colonisation and celebrated my journey in Te Reo Māori. It was an empowering moment for me; it became a source of my drive and commitment to fight to restore my mother’s stolen language and culture as a valid and appropriate culture for New Zealand Aotearoa. It is very hard for me to explain to you what it is like for a people to have their language and culture branded illegal and unacceptable by government decree and by practice. Land alienation together with deliberate dismantling of tribal structure saw the introduction of new forms of authority and behaviour; colonisation destroyed the mana and authority of Māori iwi, hapū, and whānau. Destroyed their very “genre de vie” [culture or way of living]. To explain, when a people’s culture and language are suppressed it serves to deny the validity of their history in that society. It is my conclusion here that this denial is still firmly in place today. In 1977 in my role as the CEO of the Race Relations Conciliator’s Office I visited Britain to look at the affirmative action programmes there amongst the Pakistani and Jamaican immigrants in London. I had never been to London before then but I was totally astonished at how much I knew. I knew the names of many London streets, I knew history around Westminster Abbey, the Tower Bridge, Buckingham Palace, I knew the historical deeds of Sir Francis Drake, Sir Walter Raleigh and others. 10
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Here I was at the antipodes of New Zealand for the first time and yet I was so familiar with the sites, the monuments, the history, and the culture of this side of the globe, which is okay, but it suddenly struck me: the unfairness of it all. I know about this place and this Pākehā history on this side of the world but back in Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand, the Pākehā people don’t know about my history: of Whatuiapiti, of Te Kiriri o te Rangi, great war chiefs in my denied tribal history of Ngāti Kahungunu. The colonisation of New Zealand has ensured that the people of this country do not learn tangata whenua history. I have made my remarks very personal tonight and I put my credibility on the line because I know you have trusted me and you have come here tonight to be with me. In my maiden speech to Parliament in 20051 I cited portions of my own genealogy or whakapapa as an example of Māori history in New Zealand prior to colonisation. In repeating some of these events to you now I do so on behalf of all Māori, even though it is my whakapapa, to recognise the one thousand year bond between Māori and these islands. So I ask the question to you; why do you accept the world’s history and not our own? The Spanish Inquisition, the French Revolution, the Battle of Waterloo, Plato, Socrates, Aristotle; we know about these things and we know about these people. So what of Toi Kairākau? Of Rauru? Of my history? My New Zealandness? My missing thousand years. Toi Kairākau crossed the Pacific and came to New Zealand and at that same time Erik the Red was expelled from Iceland and voyaged to colonise Greenland. Toi Kairākau is my ancestor and he lives still in me; his history, his genealogy is my history, my genealogy and my bonding to these islands of Aotearoa. Toi’s son was Rauru, his son was Whatonga and from Whatonga came Tahatiti, from Tahatiti came Uenuku. At this time of Uenuku, at this time in history, William of Normandy conquered England and became King William I. It is all in our books. From Uenuku came Ruatapu, from Ruatapu came Rakeiora, from Rakeiora came Tama ki Te Hau. These are my ancestors, tangata whenua. And this ancestor Tama ki Te Hau lived at the time of the great military leader Genghis Khan, who established the Mongol Empire uniting almost all of Eurasia. My genealogy descends to Tama ki te Ra, Tama ki te Matangi, and at this time the Magna Carta is signed on the other side of the world.
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I continued to Tama ki Reireia mai Hawaiki, Te Kahuarero, Pito, Rere, Tangi, Maika, Toto, to Tamatea Arikinui. Tamatea Arikinui brought the tapu canoe off Takitimu across the Pacific. He is the eponymous ancestor of all descendants of the Takitimu waka. Takitimu waka, Takitimu canoe—my canoe. At the time of the arrival of this canoe, history records a crusade of Joan of Arc in France, who was burnt at the stake aged nineteen years. From Tamatea Arikinui came Rongokako, and then Tamatea Pokai Whenua, and his son was Kahungunu. Kahungnunu was the founding ancestor of my tribe Ngāti Kahungunu; of me Pita Sharples. Then came Kahukuranui, Rakaihikuroa, and Taraia. It was Taraia who lead the migration of Ngāti Kahungunu people south from Wairoa into the Napier Hastings area. At this time Columbus stumbled across America, and I do mean stumbled—he thought it was India. From Taraia came Te Rangi Taumaha and his daughter Te Huhuti, who like Hinemoa swam across a lake, and married the war chief Te Whatuiapiti. He was a great war chief and he had red hair. These two are my eponymous ancestors of the sub-tribe Te Whatuiapiti of the tribe Kahungunu of the waka Takitimu. They occupied the area of Hastings and Central Hawkes Bay. This is my history, this is my life, my family. These ancestors live in me. I am their direct descendant. In Māori cultural values I am them and they are me. Māori believe this stuff. Then came Te Wawahanga, Rangikawhiua, Te Manawakawa, and Te Rangikoianake. This is my whakapapa. When we go to tangis we recite our whakapapa. Now at this time of Rangikoianake, Cromwell overthrows the British monarchy and declares a republic in England. Te Rangikoianake is the ancestor of the sub-tribe Ngāti Rangikoianake of Te Hauke. Also my grandson carries his name, his mana and his spirit. His eldest son was Te Kikiri o te Rangi; another warrior, another famous war chief who crossed the ranges and conquered a few pas. Also a redhead. He led many successful 12
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forays to avenge the deaths of his two grandfathers, Te Rehunga and Manawaakawa. He is the eponymous ancestor of our sub-tribe Ngai Te Kikiri o te Rangi; so you have sub-tribes all the way down. And the genealogy continues. From Te Kikiri o te Rangi came Kanohi tu Hanga and this ancestor’s name, his mana, was invested in my first great grandson. But he is about two years old and if I had brought him tonight he would have destroyed the place. From Kanohi tu Hanga comes Te Aroatua, then Hori Niania, and his son was Paora Kopukau Niania. Paora was my grandfather and his name and his spirit are carried by my son, and in my son I also live. From Paora came my mother Ruiha and then me. This is my history, this is tangata whenua. But apart from talking about the history of Māori I have deliberately personalised it to show you that to Māori it is a living history. As a living history I want you to understand whakapapa. We’re one of the few cultures in the world that still recite our whakapapa back to 40 or 50 generations and so on; we do it at tangis, we do it when we get together, it is bonding, it is about events, it is about people, it is about history and everything. It is about belonging to the land—tipu ngātahi tātou me te whenua, “together we grow with the land,” with the mountain, with the rocks. Why else does Tariana Turia parade around saying, “I am the river and the river is me.” I said, “Oh you better clean up your river eh.” What an insult! She gave me the appropriate slap. But this is it. That is what it is like to be Māori. Today if you go to any Māori home the TV will be on some kapa haka programme. And the two year old will be standing in front of it going like this [mimicking the actions of the kapa haka group]; seeing the actual words even though they are not yet able to speak properly, because they recognise and we recognise that that is what it is to be a Māori child. So whakapapa is a link with one’s own history, past history, current happenings, and our future. I don’t know if you can really understand this next bit. You become part of a continuum and you accept that you are part of that continuum. You are an integral part of now and the past, but you are also part of the future through your children, your grandchildren, and those still to come.
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I remember a farmer saying to me, “I’m from Christchurch up in the hills and we’ve been on that farm for four generations—I reckon we know just as well as the Māori what it is like eh?” and in a sense he was correct. His father worked that land, his father’s father worked that land, and his father’s father started that farm on that land. So his whakapapa is only four generations, but it’s a similar sort of feeling that you are one with the place—you are connected to that genealogy that comes down and goes on. So it’s all embracing. You become part of “the forever.” So you know I just feel and I know that I am not of today, I am not just of the last three hundred years or the last thousand. I began here; I am Hawaiki, I am Aotearoa, I am New Zealand. I am Māori nationhood. I am here forever and in that way I can never die. I firmly believe that a teaching knowledge of our history within every school district in the community would do wonders to increase local community relations and begin to heal many of the wounds of colonisation. I went to school in the Hawkes Bay and I said, “The kids go down the marae?” and they said, “Oh yes.” “When’s the last time they went?” “Oh a few years now.” “So who’s the local chief?” “I don’t know who’s the chief but we usually go to Papa Brown.” I said, “Is Papa Brown the local leader?” “I don’t know really.” And so it went on. I thought, “Do the kids talk Māori, was there any Māori at the school?” “No, no, we have one curriculum here and we follow that curriculum through.” I said, “Are the Māori kids a little bit slow on some of the things?” “Yeah we have to work hard on them.” I said, “Well don’t you think if you had their parents here and the local chief and the kids went to the marae with the whole school, that they might feel more involved and part of their life, their current history and stuff, and they might improve and own the kaupapa and learn better and so on and vice-versa, you might learn a little bit about the local history?” So I devoted a lot of my time during my last years in Parliament to create a curriculum. Despite the cultural resurgence and drive to teach Māori language at all levels of formal education, our language is still not safe. The legacy of colonisation owes Māori greater support to promote and encourage the teaching and spread of Māori language today. Māori have created Māori language immersion institutions at all levels; pre-school, primary, secondary, and tertiary. All have done so initially from their own efforts 14
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outside of formal programmes, but continual lobbying has resulted in government legislation formalising provision of these educational options. It has always been from outside; it’s always been a fight. It’s always been by pulling out of the system and just doing it by yourself with no money that we have forced these changes. I know; so when we built the first kura kaupapa Māori at Hoani Waititi Marae in West Auckland we got death threats; because remember apartheid was still alive down the line, and people were comparing us to apartheid. So at two o’clock in the morning the phone would ring and when your phone rings at 2.00 am you think it’s a tangi and that someone has passed away, ‘cause you get notified straight away; people don’t wait. Anyway it was a change to have a death threat instead; a proposed tangi! So the language is still not safe and we have a role to play and that’s why we went outside and created kōhanga reo. Kōhanga means nest, reo means language. And that’s what they were; very simple concepts. At that meeting the leaders of Māoridom came to Wellington and we had these meetings in Parliament in a recess period. It was a very simple concept; we get all of the pre-school kids – forget about the others, they’ve gone and you can’t start teaching bits and pieces, but if we start with the two, three and four year olds then we can bring them through as a people. All you need to do is bring them, find some food, find a place, a room, put a kuia or an old lady or an old man who speaks Māori and can look after kids, put them in a room and shut the door—shut the door on Monday and open it on Friday and they will come out speaking Māori. Oh we were so excited; what a brilliant, brilliant programme. So we went back to our tribal areas and my tribe Ngāti Kahungunu had Te Okanga, Wi tatau Huata, Aunty Bunty, and Aunty Lulu came back from that hui and said “Ngāti Kahugnunu, kua ngaro haere Te Reo! (Our language is already down the tubes!), kōhanga reo is the way, do it.” And they did it. Queen Te Atairangikaahu went back to Waikato with her leaders. Sir James Henare and that lot went up north and they said, “Te Tai Tokerau, anei te huarahi mō tātou. (Northland, this is the way for all of us.) Do it.” Spotswood in Taranaki, South Island; everywhere, kōhanga sprang up. They sprang up in cowsheds, car sheds, they sprang up in school rooms and garages, they sprang Woven Together
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up in every place they could find a room and people brought food and looked for money to pay the tutor—money we didn’t have. It took off, and like all things that work, the government said, “Why didn’t you ask us we would have helped you.” So we got some money for it, and look what’s happened now; there’s been fighting within that big trust, fighting over who is doing what. So from there kids went to school and they spoke Māori and the other kids laughed and they stopped speaking Māori. There was this particular kid that I really, really thought was a number one student. He didn’t speak much to me when he came back, and when he did, he no longer spoke Māori, and then he looked like he didn’t even like me. I thought, “I was his favourite papa what’s wrong?” And then the penny dropped; we had taught this child how the world wasn’t. We have told him the world is about having a prayer when you arrive, the world is about morning talks, the world is a lot of seeing, the world is about sharing your food; all the things we did in kōhanga. About manaaki, about respect, and when visitors come, we stop our playing and we welcome the new visitor and then we carry on. We share our food, we sleep together in the afternoon in the kōhanga. But they didn’t find that there, so we had in fact deceived these children and prepared them for a world that wasn’t. So that’s what made us build the first kura kaupapa [Māori language immersion primary school] at Hoani Waititi Marae, then five others and so on and so forth. I will tell you how tricky it gets. Government saw us building these schools, they saw us funding it ourselves and they had to take us on board. This was at the same time as Tomorrow’s Schools, so they listed us as one of the Tomorrow’s Schools’ options. After Tomorrow’s Schools took place, they worked out that they would fund our schools, and they announced they would begin by by funding five schools. So they invited the six schools that were actually trying to operate to Wellington to a meeting and told them, “The good news is we’re going to fund you from now on but we are only going to fund five, so you have a meeting and work out which five.” We couldn’t believe it; there were six and they invited the six but they’re going to fund five. Who would do that? Well they did it. I will tell you what happened, because kaupapa Māori had already started in those schools. Immediately Cathy Dewes stood up: “Ruamata is one of the oldest schools, we have already got our funds ready for next year, we will stand down, you five have the money.” And someone else stood up and said, “No that’s not fair because we need your model out there so we will stand down.” Then Te Rito stood up and said they would stand down. I thought, “Oh shucks, we’re the mātua school, we’re the 16
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bosses, I better stand down.” So I stood up and said, “No, no we’ll stand down,” and they said, “No, you’re the leading school.” “Oh okay,” I said. Well, if that’s what they wanted. But do you know what happened? We all decided that two of us would share our money with a third school that would have no money. So we all got money, five schools, and the one that got left out shared their money with two of the other schools; so we had two-thirds each—I think that’s right—and we survived. The kaupapa Māori was already working, even at that stage. The trouble is when I talk I go away from the script and I don’t know where to go back. But just to tell you that we’re not out of the woods with Te Reo Māori. My wife’s name is Arapera yet people insist on calling her “Aerapeera”; sounds like a dam. I mean a simple name like Tāmaki, Auckland Tāmaki; it’s not “Tehmeki.” I can forgive you if you can’t pronounce Turangaomoana but please don’t call it what they call it, “TrangaMoan”. How Turangaomoana became “Tranga-Moan” I have no idea, but it did. Doesn’t it seriously show that there is a lack of respect in New Zealand for Māori language, which we wear as a lack of respect for the whole culture thing? Unless there is a change nothing is going to happen. Now we all know about that Kapiti College boy and the speech he made to his class. The teacher put it on Facebook and it has gone viral.2 He’s been in the news, and he’s been on the BBC3 and people in New Zealand are liking it on their Facebook and think, “Good on you boy.” Here I am thinking, “Good on you boy, but why the hell didn’t they listen to us? Why did it take a Pākehā child to make people think about this, when he said the very things that Māori are saying.” Its part of colonisation and it leaves us with the impression, “You’re not that important, your culture is not that important.” It leaves that sort of veil over things that we do. Well people, I just wanted to show you what it is like and how we hurt sometimes, how brave my mother was to step outside of what she had believed because of her upbringing that Māori was bad, Māori language was bad, and to stand up and say, “Blow it, Māori is good,” and use her Māori for me and not just for herself. So now we have an explosion amongst Māori of culture and so on, but there is still that bridge, that gap if you like, between society accepting it, and not. I had a very, very good friend, one of the first air hostesses for NAC, she’s a very old lady, Joy Hannah, who used to kick around with us guys. She was older than us, she was my Woven Together
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landlady at one stage and she honestly tried to say Papatoetoe and Otahuhu, instead of Oat-ahoohoo. And she learned to say them properly but she went to tennis on Wednesdays, and her mates laughed at her so much and rubbished her she lost her confidence and she went back to Oat-ahoo, Papa-toe-y. Really sad; she was really trying to make an effort but it was her society. So maybe I’m putting that to you all here tonight. What is your role? Greg Miller is the New Zealand leader of the Toll Group. He has an app called “Hika” (hikagroup.com), and it is all about methods and easy ways to pronounce Māori words. I invite you to look it up. So what is important here today is that you trust me—you can. You accept what I say as a Māori viewpoint and a Māori description of living from a merging of colonisation. We are still colonised ourselves, we talk about things in a different way now. We get a good idea, and we do this and do this and then suddenly we get a knock, and we act colonised. As for the rest of New Zealand they have not moved on their attitudes towards a lot of Māori; in their eyes we are the guys that punch everybody up and do that sort of stuff, regardless of how it came to pass. I remember I got involved with a gang back in the ‘70s when I was in the Race Relations Office. I thought I better tackle a gang. So I went along to this gang leader. This was the worst part for Auckland in the ‘70s. They were killing each other; they were shooting each other. I went to one gang leader and I said, “I want you to stop that shooting and stuff,” and he said, “F*** off,” and I said, “Okay.” So I found out his real leader was in jail. I had previously done quite a bit of work in prisons, so I could get in there easy. I got in to see this guy and I said, “You’ve got to stop killing each other, you know it’s not good for Māori to be killing Māori,” and stuff like that. He said, “Who gives a s***? This is where we’re placed, this is our territory, this is our patch.” I said, “Don’t you care about your people?” “What people?” “About your Queen, your Māori Queen.” “What queen? I’ve got no queen.” And that’s how it was. So I said, “What will make you take me seriously?” I was scared s***less of this man in the cell; him and his lieutenant, his sergeant at arms. He said, “You get so and so in here (who was one of the leaders of Black Power in Wellington) and then I’ll respect 18
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you and we’ll have a listen to what you want to do.” So I did; somehow I got him in there and the prison trusted me. I got him into the one cell. Without a word of lie it was like watching two generals talk to each other. “Kia ora man, you’re getting pretty strong now,” and he said, “You’ve got a new territory, I see you’ve got Wairoa now.” He said, “Yeah but you’re still in Napier, Hastings.” They were talking like this. I said, “I would really like you guys to work together instead of fighting.” And so from that meeting I gained their respect. So anyway, when that leader got out of prison, I connected both of the gang leaders with Ross Deller. Ross was a policeman, a very successful senior policeman. He worked leading the raid squads up north in Auckland and I was called on for the gang side. So we went to incidents where people were killed and identified bodies and tried to get them to pull out and so on. I was arrested twice; the police arrested me. They knew I wasn’t a gang member. Because I was there rounding them up and stuff they pushed me into the cell and locked the door. Cheeky buggers eh? I was so angry. I said, “Gee I’m trying to be a good guy here and you buggers lock me up.” Anyway, I worked with this gang and found out that if I could get them some employment doing something they might change. So the Black Power said, “You bring Ihakara Puketapu up here, he’s the head of Māori Affairs and we’ll meet him in the Otahuhu gym.” So 100 Black Power met Ihakara Puketapu and me in the Otahuhu College gym. They said to Ihakara, “You got all the money for Māori. We live in Otahuhu, we are the scum of the earth but we work here, we live here, we drink here, we fight here. We want to work here. We can’t go any lower than we are now. Give us a job. Give us a job and a chance to do something.” And so he left and similarly out in West Auckland we had work schemes in those days. So we set up a work scheme and in the end we had 100 Head Hunters working out in the parks out in West Auckland, and we had Black Power beautifying the beach, the sea edges and the parks and stuff like that. You know what? They stopped killing each other; they just stopped killing each other. But then they started to accumulate wealth and started to get into real crime. They got headquarters and furnished them. They’re not dumb anyway. But it just shows what happens and has happened all over the world with gangs and Woven Together
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stuff. Now we read in the prisons that they’re having gang fights; real bad, because people in there don’t know how to handle and work with them. I have not yet met a gang member that will not adhere to kaupapa at the end of the day after talking and having the options spelt out to them. We’ve even built a prison called Whare Oranga Ake—there’s two of them—for people to go and be rehabilitated by the iwi into their own homes, getting them to face up to their victims, and to do all these things, so that when they actually finish their sentence they have learned the skills of rehabilitation and family and love. It’s a practical thing and a simple thing and that’s why Sam [Chapman] has spent his whole life working with these guys. They’re just so ordinary, but they’re tied up in this culture. So the answer is not to tell them, “You’re bad, drop your culture.” The answer is to give them the opportunity to express themselves in different ways. I’m miles away from what I was going to say. I really want to hear what you have to say because our people out there are working hard for a place in the sun. Our tribes have reconstituted themselves and do you know what did that? Kōhanga reo, because we got such a shock at the idea that we could save our language. The leaders went home to their areas like I said and said to our people, “Do kōhanga,” and we listened to them, and suddenly we got restored mana. Government deliberately dismantled tribes so they could take land, and that was the big plot of colonisation; it’s to acquire the land, new settlements, new government, new way of life for a new country and so on. But the casualties were Māori culture, Māori whakapapa, genealogies, tribalism and stuff like this. So we reunited it through kōhanga reo, and suddenly they became stronger, and found that people were listening to us once again. Our tribal leaders got their mana back, and they’ve worked hard to be leaders. So now you have this opposition between those Māori groups which are constituted through articles like Māori Council and Māori Welfare League and things like this. They are, in one way, in conflict with the tribal groups, which include everybody at some level or other. But we’re working through that. So the Māori economy when I went into Parliament was worth $14.6 billion; that’s the economy of the Māori groups. I want to publicly acknowledge successive 20
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governments of New Zealand for the Treaty Settlement Programme. It is a wonderful thing. It is not lucky dip rubbish; it is in fact one percent of what was taken off the tribes, and one percent for the grievances caused by them by the killings and so on during colonisation. What it has amounted to though is a pocket full of millions to allow different tribes to kick-start an economy—working in specific industries—and it has just exploded; just like kōhanga, but not in one room. And so Māori tribal leaders have earned their mana if you like and have grown their economy and so on. We have come a long way in this country compared to what is happening in a lot of other countries that I go to. So I would like to acknowledge successive governments for that practice and it is going very well and our economy was worth $14.6 billion when I went in. As soon as I became a Minister we called an economic summit; the usual way you do it with Māori—you invite 80 people to Wellington and 120 come, and then you sort out priorities and you lay down a kaupapa: a way forward. At the end was the task force we set up, and one of the things they did was to review the Māori economy. That suddenly revealed that it wasn’t worth $14.6 billion, it was worth $37.9 billion; more than double what they thought. That was five years ago. Now it is worth $43.7 billion, so it has grown. Māori are learning to do stuff on the international stage as well. So there’s honey contracts, there’s all sorts of trading going on throughout the world. It’s good news and we’re on the up. But we won’t get quite there unless there is a realisation by the predominant culture—which is Pākehā—that Māori are your people too; that this is part of our togetherness and it’s more than just saying, “Hello.” It is about doing what people, some people that I know personally in this room, do; encourage mixing. I will tell you just this one little story. When I applied for the position of Race Relations Office CEO I thought, “Gee that’s a good job for me man, I’m pretty cool with people,” and then I thought, “Nah I hate Indians, oh bugger I can’t take that job. Because they lie, they tell lies, therefore they probably steal.” What happened was as a student I went overseas to do field work; this was my first trip overseas. We had a night in Nandi, and there I was to buy all my equipment. Every shop I went into I would ask for some photographic film and they [the shopkeepers of Fijian Indian ethnicity] said “that’ll be seventeen shillings and six pence,” and I would say, “17s and 6p, wow that’s dear. No thanks I’ll go next door,” and they’d say, “15s.” “But you just said 17/6?” “Well for you, 15s.” “Why for me 15s?” “Oh we like you, you’re Woven Together
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brown like us—15s.” “No thanks.” “13s.” “13s? You’re scaring me, you’re lying, why did you say 17s when I came in?” I just couldn’t abide that and I walked out. I went next door and the same story; they’re all liars! I learned that Indians are liars. So I went and bought my stuff and I went on my field work as a young student, got an A pass and the confirmation that Indians lie, and I came back to New Zealand. So when the job came up I thought, “Those Indians lie though, you can’t apply for this job.” I told my mates and they said, “Don’t be stupid, you’ll get used to them.” And I said, “Nah, I’m going to make an effort.” So I went to our shop in Te Atatu, an Indian greengrocer, and I said to him, “I would like to place an order, will you deliver it to my house?” “Yes, yes.” “Four o’clock this afternoon?” “Yep.” “Okay, bring it.” I went around there and I waited at four o’clock and put the kettle on and invited him in. I forced myself to have a cup of tea with this “liar.” And he lied pretty good because we got on pretty well in there. Anyway a week later I was walking up Te Atatu and I passed his shop and he called out to me, “Mr Sharples, would you come in please.” So I went into his shop and he had lined up his whole family; wife, all the children, all down to the little baby and he introduced me to them as his new friend; his “new Māori friend who invited me into his house,” and, “we would like to invite you Mr Sharples into our house and meet us.” So I accepted and I got over my hang up. I felt so stupid. He explained the barter system to me; it’s been all around the world and they do it everywhere. I felt like a real dick, man. So I learnt that they were just people like us. It just shows that sometimes you go through life with hang-ups about other races and stereotypes of people and you don’t need to; you really don’t need to. You get rid of that rubbish, and own it, and then drop it. But really people, it is about us. It’s about you really; it’s about you thinking about what I’ve said. Is there a space in your life, in your head, in your understanding to actually take a look at this process of Māori coming out of colonisation because we’ve still got a lot of hang-ups because of the way we have been treated and we still think we are victims. This is what I have fought against; me and Marama Fox who 22
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has replaced me in Parliament as an MP, to fight against just being victims. We’re not victims anymore; we are heroes, we are really intelligent, capable, leaders and that’s what we should be doing. And fix up poverty; I’m not saying there’s no poverty, there is and we’ve got to deal to that. But we’re not victims; we are leaders and that’s the idea I want to get across. So people, I don’t know whether you can find much to ask questions about in that, but it’s been fun getting off the subject with you tonight.
ENDNOTES 1.
“Maiden Speech: Dr Pita Sharples” http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0511/S00210.htm (accessed Monday 29/02/16)
2.
“Kapiti teenager’s Te Reo video a hit” http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/70497532/Kapiti-teenagers-TeReo-video-a-hit (accessed Monday 29/02/16)
3.
“New Zealand teen’s hit Maori pronunciation video” http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-33619563 (accessed Monday 29/02/16)
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APPENDIX: ADDITIONAL TEXT The following text comes from material prepared by Sir Pita Sharples for his lecture at the 2015 Sir John Graham Lecture, but was not shared in full in the course of the evening. It is reproduced here to provide a full record of his work.
I have chosen to use this time to explain to you the importance of the concept of tangata whenua. I do so because I believe that the future of New Zealand is deeply intertwined with the future of Māoridom and is, in the eyes of the global community, uniquely intertwined with the idea of this nation. In a world increasingly homogenised by global commerce, migration, communications, social media, travel, and trade, Māoridom—Māori culture, Māori history and Māori language—provides an enduring point of difference that other cultures envy; a difference we must preserve. In one of my last acts as Associate Minister of Education, I worked with a group of Māori women in the Department of Education to produce a framework for schools to introduce and teach the local Māori history of their respective school’s local hapū. This venture received an absolute endorsement from the conference of New Zealand secondary school history teachers. I firmly believe that a teaching knowledge of local Māori history within each school district would do wonders to increase local community relations, and begin to heal many of the wounds of the colonisation period. On the question of current Māori/Pākehā relations, I believe that schools and society should now work together to promote the teaching and learning of Te Reo Māori, Māori language. Despite the cultural resurgence and drive to teach Māori language at all levels of formal education, the language is still not safe. The legacy of colonisation owes Māori greater support to promote and encourage the teaching and spread of Māori language today. Māori have created and influenced Māori language immersion institutions at all levels—preschool, primary, secondary and tertiary—and all have done so initially from their own efforts outside of formal programmes. However continual lobbying has resulted in government legislation formalising the provision of these educational options.
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But it is not enough. Successive governments’ reactions to formal Māori language learning opportunities have been reactive at best, without any plan at all to be proactive as a matter of policy. My discussion with you all tonight so far may seem to be a little—or a lot—lopsided. And it was meant to be. Colonisation happened all over the world and had various forms, but what is important is that we understand what happened here, in order that we take care of past hurts and move forward. And the salient point here is that this discussion is not ultimately about blame. It is about knowing, and growing our distinctive New Zealand culture together. On a personal level, I am so pleased that successive governments have embarked on, and developed, what has become known as the Treaty settlement claims process, under the Waitangi Tribunal authority and by direct negotiation with government officials. Most claims and settlements only amount to one or two percent of the current value of what was taken during colonisation. However the payments do provide a kick start for some tribal economic activity, but more importantly they come with a description of the historical grievances suffered during the confiscations and include a formal, legal apology by the Crown. This formal apology to iwi has perhaps been the single most effective measure to restore the pride and mana of Māori. New Zealand is one of the few countries to actually compensate its mana whenua for colonising practices. But as I have just mentioned, it is the restoration of tribal mana that has been the greatest feature of this process. I want to talk now about the Māori cultural renaissance of the 1980s-90s. This followed a period of relative poverty among Māori in the 1950s-70s, and the renaissance was driven by a drive to restore and strengthen and indeed save the Māori language. Language nests or kōhanga reo were established in 1981-82 to immerse preschool children in te reo Māori care and education. This led to the creation of kura kaupapa Māori and various forms of total immersion Māori language primary schools, and soon after came te wharekura (the secondary school Māori language immersion equivalent). The resultant cultural and te reo Māori explosion amongst Māori society saw the return of tribal leadership amongst iwi. Accordingly Māori groups came of age, in the New Zealand economic environment. Coupled with the claims settlement process the Māori economy grew. At the turn of the century the Māori economy was identified as making a significant contribution to the overall New Zealand economy; reaching $16.4 billion in 2008. 26
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The emerging Māori economy In 2008 as the world economic recession dug in, as Minister of Māori Affairs I called a Māori economic summit to gauge measures by which Māori enterprise could plan to trade out of the recession. A Māori economic task force was established. A review of the Māori economy revealed that the Māori asset base sat at $36.9 billion. Double what we thought it was previously. This acted as a positive incentive, and a flurry of Māori trade missions left the shores to trade with China and other Asian countries. From this came the Māori economic strategy: He Kai Kei Aku Ringa.1 Across the Māori economy, the government in practice has flirted with the notion of a strategic pivot, by revealing its maiden “Māori Economic Strategy” in 2011. Essentially, shifting from Te Puni Kokiri holding the fort on its own, to a structured “all of government” approach. However, with a struggling bureaucratic Māori economic unit sitting in behind the strategy that is charged with leveraging this all-of-government approach, the $8 million innovation fund and the $12.8 million Te Ture Whenua fund announced in the last two budgets, largely because of ministerial intervention, are fractional compared to an operational pivot. Budget 2015 maintained this status quo without significantly investing in the Māori economy. The opportunity to establish regional research institutes and access research and development growth grants administered through Callaghan Innovation has potential. But, unless there are terms within these policies that are responsive to the different economic models and priorities of Māori, it is all theory. On the other hand, the priorities of this year’s Budget across the Māori portfolio were to successfully deliver on a long-held position to address poverty, and secure the second largest investment for Whānau Ora. Coming up will be the Te Ture Whenua reforms, set to be tabled in Parliament later this year by Minister Te Ururoa Flavell. Comprising around 1.47 million hectares or roughly 5% of the total land in New Zealand, the reforms will make it easier for Māori land owners to manage and develop their land, stimulating both the Māori economy and the Government’s economic strategy. In the ministerial consultation on these reforms that began last month, specific issues are being discussed relating to access to landlocked land, development of small fragmented lands, challenges with poor governance and the alienation of land through the Public Works Act. Woven Together
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There is still another part to the equation. There are also varying debts accumulated through imbalanced rates levied by local authorities currently burdening Māori land. Previous ministerial attempts to reset Māori land ratings have been unsuccessful, but with the impending reforms to be tabled, the time is right to address all the obstacles once and for all. Another release that came out on Budget Day suggests a different kind of emerging pivot that is taking place across the Māori economy. In a joint research project between Te Whare Wananga o Awanuiārangi and Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga (Māori Centre for Research Excellence), called “He Mangōpare Amohia – Strategies for Māori Economic Development,2 one of the emerging scenarios shows an organic shift from traditional to next generation leadership. This shift results in a subsequent policy pivot from low impact to medium-high impact investing. Projected across the Māori economy, this pivot demonstrates a building confidence and looming accelerated growth – both in fiscal and social commitment terms. New updated figures show the Māori asset base is sitting at $42.6 billion. This is a growth of $5.7 billion over a three-year period. This is still in the context of slow sustainable growth, as iwi and Māori collectives have been consolidating infrastructure and building partnerships; in fact, the current asset base is largely fortified by small to medium enterprises. Even with the successful achievements of individual iwi—including Ngāi Tahu and Tainui—the collective economic power of iwi operating in the post-settlement environment is yet to take hold. Not to mention, two of the largest iwi, Nga Pūhi and Ngāti Kahungungu, are yet to receive their settlements. With the emerging pivot, it is certain that more billion-dollar iwi and Māori collective organisations will emerge. If the Government was to take up the task of providing a highly targeted investment package in Budget 2016 that supported this pivot, the ramifications would not only be felt across the Māori economy, but the whole of New Zealand economy as well.
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ENDNOTES 1.
“He Kai Kei Aku Ringa – The Crown-Māori Economic Growth Partnership” https://www.tpk.govt.nz/en/a-matou-mohiotanga/ business-and-economics/he-kai-kei-aku-ringa--the-crown-maori-economic-gro (accessed Monday 29/02/16)
2.
He Mangōpare Amohia – Strategies for Māori Economic Development, http://www.maramatanga.co.nz/sites/ default/files/He%20Mangopare%20Amohia_0.pdf (accessed Monday 29/02/16)
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