Ngāi Tahu and Tainui iwi had a message for national and international investors at the Murihiku Regeneration wānanga in Invercargill: they are multibillion-dollar operations and easier to do business with than the Government.
Ngāi Tahu kaiwhakahaere Justin Tipa said a lot of political rhetoric was being thrown about at the moment. “But look, we want to see development and progress in our country. We want to partner [with developers] and we want to do things sensibly.”
Ngāi Tahu had rangatiratanga over 90% of the South Island and Tipa said this made it “a very attractive proposition’’ for partnerships.
The Government’s fast-track legislation was all well and good, but for big business, partnering with iwi provided the opportunity to expedite any project.
“We’re easier to do business with than the Government,’’ he said.
Tuku Morgan, heading the Tainui delegation, said the iwi relied on partnerships and on the wider community playing its part.
In Tainui’s portfolio of assets, “everything that we own has come as a result of partnerships“.
“We don’t buy to sell,’’ he added. “We buy to keep. It’s as simple as that.”
The former New Zealand First MP said politicians, unfortunately, had a weird sense of reality and to deal with the Government was “an inevitable challenge for all of us’’.
“We take the view that the less Government in our lives, the better,’’ he said. “We have to be much more self reliant, much more independent, about what we do.’’
The Crown and the Government should not be evading their social responsibilities for housing, health and social services, but “besides that, it’s none of their business”.
“[They should] keep their nose out of it and allow us to push forward.”
Business consultant Rakihia Tau (Ngāi Tahu) said he wanted to put to the sword the idea of a Māori or iwi economy that somehow existed in isolation from the whole country’s economy.
However they did have an important role to play within it.
Murihiku Southland was well positioned, he said.
“There’s opportunity here to be seized. The capital is here, the technology’s here. Push the bureaucracy aside and cut some deals.”
Bronson Marshall, from the Government’s international business development agency New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE), said the Māori economy stood at $70 billion and was on track to become $100b by 2030.
That meant a lot of opportunity for regions such as Murihiku Southland, across areas such as renewable energy, aquaculture, data centres and alternative land uses.
NZTE wanted to help investors and developers to understand Māori as closely as possible and recognise them as great intergenerational partners, who had had sophistication, capability and capacity, and were open for business.
The wānanga held on Tuesday and Wednesday hosted national and international industry leaders, international diplomats and Crown ministers.
- The Southland Times