Speech: Maori achievement - decade two : Rahui Katene

Guest Speaker at Massey Wellington, Ceremony to Honour Maori Graduates : ‘Maori Achievement: Decade Two.’

• Great Hall, Museum Building, on Friday 27th May at 10.00am
• Rahui Katene, MP for Te Tai Tonga

Nga rangatira o te paepae, tena koutou.

Tena koutou kua hui i tenei ra te honore nga tauira kua riro nei i a ratau nga tohu matauranga.

Dr Russ Ballard, Hon Steve Maharey; Vice-Chancellor; Professor Sir Mason Durie; Council members, staff, graduates, whanau, hapu and iwi.

I have been so looking forward to being with you today.

It is not every day that we experience the empowerment, the excellence, the exhilaration that comes with academic success.

It was Nelson Mandela that once said, ‘Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world’.

Today then, is not only about celebrating success and honouring endeavour – it is also about recognising the opportunity that each of these graduates now has to transform the world.


This has been a magnificent week of Maori achievement.

On Tuesday my colleague Dr Pita Sharples announced that Nga Pu Waea, the national Maori Broadband Working Group will facilitate the development of Maori interests in both rural broadband and ultrafast broadband.

Now why is that so important? Well it ensures Maori have access to all the advances associated with cutting edge technology.

It’s an amazing opportunity brokered by the Maori Party, for Maori to be involved in a whole range of investment and partnering plans, including trade training and employment.

As one part of the announcement, 480 marae will be covered by Telecom’s Digital subscriber line service, 44 of which will have access to these services for the first time and 100 marae will be able to choose to connect existing Telecom fibre or new rural broadband imitative-funded fibre to the premise. We’re hardly going to know ourselves.

And that was Tuesday.

The next day, Professor Tamati Reedy, the first Maori to be awarded the title of emeritus professor, was awarded the Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit at home in Ngati Porou, on Hiruharama marae.

I’m sure it all started from the fact that Sir Tamati was one of Massey University’s first extramural students back in 1961 – some years ago – now that’s lifelong learning.

Sir Tamati follows in the footsteps of a proud Ngati Porou lineage – pioneered by Sir Apirana Ngata who was the first Maori to graduate in a New Zealand university, in 1893 and one of the earliest New Zealanders to hold the double degree of BA/LLB.

Other Ngati Porou to be distinguished with such an honour of course include Sir Henare Ngata and Dame Iritana Tawhiwhirangi.

It was so wonderful to see the whanau gathered to celebrate a leader who has contributed in so many areas – in early childhood education, iwi development, the Waitangi Tribunal, in Maori Affairs, the public service, and of course most recently as leading Te Paepae Motuhake, reviewing the Maori language sector and strategy.

Between these three Knights and a Dame, there are so many connections. They were all driven by a love of learning, they were committed to the revitalisation of te reo, they were advocates of tikanga Maori, they sought a better future for their whanau, and in particular their mokopuna.

That was Wednesday.

And so here we are today capping off a fantastic week of Maori achievement by paying tribute to the efforts you have made – as have your whanau, hapu and iwi – to embark on the journey of learning.

I think what is so wonderful about the concept of Maori Achievement: decade two – is that it establishes and universalises Maori success as a norm.

One only has to think of the statistics at the end of Decade One to realise how effective this strategy has been.

In 2009, 1164 Maori students were enrolled in Masters programme; and 392 in Doctorates. In that same year 217 students completed their Masters and 29 their doctorates.

It has literally been a decade of staggering success when we reflect on the range and standard of doctorate achievements.

And I want to mihi to Professor Sir Mason Durie for the outstanding leadership and inspiration he continues to provide in establishing the expectation of scholarship and academic enterprise as part of our core citizenship rights.

I want to also acknowledge the significance of the Manu Ao academy – a national inter-university Maori academy for academic and professional development.

Manu Ao is influenced by three key objectives:
· Accelerating Maori leadership
· Strengthening the links between Maori academics and Maori professionals; and
· Advancing Maori scholarships.

So here we are now – one year into Decade two of the third millennium – contemplating the challenges ahead.

The motivation for Decade Two is to prepare wisely and strategically for the emerging Maori economy – an economy that has experienced exponential growth to now be sitting with assets of approximately $36 billion.

A decade which must come to terms with some of the persistent pressures of our times – such as
· the desperate grip of poverty;
· the growing inequities between those who have and those who haven’t;
· the heavy reliance on conventional fuels – the price of which rose some 72 percent under the former Government;
· the emergence of what might have previously been considered third world diseases such as rheumatic fever.

It is also becoming increasingly evident that our policy norms will have to change to reflect the nature of current demographics. I am, forever, constantly considering how we best respond to the momentum of a Maori population in which 54% of our people are under the age of 25.

Let’s come back then, to the challenge of Maori achievement.

In the Budget announced a week ago, the Maori Party was rapt with the huge investment that we achieved in
· helping teachers to engage better with Maori students with seventeen million dollars allocated to Te Kotahitanga;
· interventions to improve literacy teaching; and
· a solid chunk of funding – sixty million dollars - to support kura kaupapa Maori.

Other highlights were $9 million to support iwi to develop school and community-based language initiatives and increased funding of thirty million dollars in extending and advancing the Whanau Ora approach.

For those who might ask, why we gave such emphasis to kura kaupapa Maori, I’d refer you to the research entitled Te Piko o te Mahuri which indicates quite simply that Maori students perform better in kura kaupapa than in mainstream schools.

And I want to just conclude with some of the comments that came from kura themselves about the nature of success and what Maori achievement means to them:

· “What is critical is that we are giving our kids a taonga – the language – as a tool for their future” – a comment from Stephen Paewai, from Tamaki Nui a Rua;

· “I truly believe that the most important quality is aroha. They must demonstrate this, teach it, and carry it wherever they go, whatever they do. Its impossible to go wrong if we do something with aroha” – Pehi Waho of Mana Tamariki;

· The teacher must remember that these children are the faces of their ancestors. Behind them are their families, their forebears and all of their learning experiences up until now” - Awatea Hohepa from Ruamata.


Today then, is a wonderful day to pay tribute to the twenty Maori graduants at the centre of our celebrations – to acknowledge their dedication, their discipline and their determination to succeed.

It is a day to recognise their whanau; their tupuna and the legacy of learning the graduates are establishing for their mokopuna.

And it is a day to bring together all of the elements that comprise Maori educational success – whether it be the rich foundations of kohanga reo; the new age of connectivity in bringing broadband to our marae; the strength of te reo Maori; the significance of kaupapa and tikanga; the sense of pride we instill in ourselves as we learn more about our whakapapa, and our histories.

And if I could make just one suggestion to this new cohort of job-seeking graduates it would be to look outside Wellington and Auckland and to consider job offers in places like Nelson.

In turn, it signals a need for industries to engage more and better with Maori, if we are really serious about creating employment options, creating a future for all of our graduands.


Thank you for according me the privilege and the pleasure of basking in your achievements.

I want to especially mention the tutors, the mentors and the academic staff from across a diverse range of disciplines – creative arts, business, music, humanities and social sciences. Your leadership and your encouragement is to be commended for the way in which you have guided the students and supported them in their studies.

Finally, I congratulate all of our graduates and I thank all of our whanau, hapu and iwi gathered here today, for supporting your loved ones to lead us into our future.