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ĀteaMay 2, 2018

Why Māori organisations need more accountability

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Today’s Māori organisations are the result of decades of Māori being forced into corporate structures that don’t fit. It’s time to rethink them, writes Joshua Hitchcock.

The accountability of Māori organisations to their members was back in the news in April, with several stories highlighting unjustified spending and unaccountable governance structures. It is always disheartening to read about Māori organisations that have wasted or lost collective assets, or misapplied their pūtea on counter-productive activities. Our collective asset base is small, yet our mistakes are writ large across the pages of our newspapers. And so while more attention is shown towards mismanaged Māori organisations than it is to general organisations, this is one of those situations where sunlight is required. I have seen first hand the misuse of funds by Māori organisations and the anger, frustration, and distrust between whānau that this generates.

Critical to the success of Māori organisations is the establishment of strong, culturally appropriate structures with clear accountability mechanisms to ensure that they are meeting the aspirations of their members and beneficiaries. We need measures to ensure that our Māori organisations are being run appropriately. That funds meant for advancing Māori aspirations are not misappropriated. That they are not used for frivolous or personal means. That is why the story in the Weekend Herald last month discussing the investigations into spending by Te Ururangi, the trust set up to manage the Kīngitanga and funded out of the Waikato-Tainui annual budget, was incredibly concerning – it was another in a long line of mismanaged Māori organisations to make the papers. There are many more that do not.

Image: NZ Herald, 1 April, 2018

Funded by Waikato-Tainui, Te Ururangi receives around $1.6 million per annum to manage the affairs of the Kīngitanga. The Trust was previously investigated and warned by Internal Affairs in 2015 following spending beyond its charitable purposes remit – a lesson it apparently did not learn from. Expenditure highlighted by the initial investigation included $120,000 on jewellery, clothing, and beauty treatments and a further $90,000 in cash withdrawals over a three year period between 2012 and 2014. The Charities Service within Internal Affairs chose not to de-register the Trust’s charitable status based on representation made by the board that they had learned their lesson and were cleaning up their act. In any event, de-registration as a charity would mean very little to the members of Waikato-Tainui who have seen their money used in such a manner.

Three years later and the Trust is once again under investigation. Last month’s investigations by the Weekend Herald discovered unexplained expenditure of $46,000 for weight-loss surgery and $80,000 for a related-party loan for travel expenditure at below-market interest rates. It should not have to be said but Māori organisations have no business spending on frivolous items to such a blatant extent or be in the business of extending related party loans to directors or family members. This is not a one-off occurrence. Allegations of misspending by Māori organisations can be found up and down the country.

Where is the accountability for Māori? There are often very minimal accountability structures, or none at all, built into our systems of governance. Traditional audits do not work as these are not designed to look at the nature of the spending, only the ability of the organisation to prove that such spending actually took place. Where an organisation is charitable, we rely on the Charities Service of Internal Affairs to monitor and investigate on our behalf. But even then, its largest sanction – the removal of charitable status – does little to hold those responsible accountable. In practice, it further exacerbates the harm felt by members of that organisation as the requirement to pay tax further reduces the pūtea available to support their aspirations. In other situations, Māori looking to hold their organisations and their leaders to account have to fund this activity themselves. Yet, all to often, demands for accountability descend into age-old arguments based more on history and ego than on the facts of the matter.

What we need is an independent Ombudsman who can investigate allegations of poor financial management. A body run by Māori, in accordance with Māori values, supported by Māori organisations, that is tasked with upholding the integrity of our collectively-held assets on behalf of the membership that the assets are meant to be supporting. A body that has the power to investigate not just the accuracy of the recording of the spending but also the appropriateness of that spending in line with the aspirations of the members.

Alongside this, we need to rethink our organisational structures. Consider the non-exhaustive list of structures that govern Māori land and assets: ahu whenua trusts, whenua tōpu trusts, kai tiaki trusts, whānau trusts, pūtea trusts, Māori incorporations, Māori authorities, Māori trust boards, rūnanga, statutory trusts, general trusts, charitable trusts, limited liability companies, joint ventures, limited partnerships. Some entities are charitable, others are not. Some are taxed at 17%, others at 28%. Many iwi have a number of these entities within their structure. I’ve managed such a structure. It was an unworkable mess of entities where governance lines were blurred and no one within the organisation could really define how it worked or how we ended up in that situation in the first place. This is the net result of decades of government paternalism in how we manage our structures and decades of forcing Māori into convoluted corporate structures that simply do not suit.

A new model of governance for Māori organisations was proposed in 2006 by the New Zealand Law Commission. Known as a Waka Umanga, the Law Commission proposed a structure that was designed to meet the needs of Māori communities managing communal assets which was flexible enough to suit the particular needs of the community while ensuring good governance standards are in place alongside appropriate dispute resolution methods. Waka Umanga was flawed, but it was a step in the right direction and it is time that the proposals are put back on the table. We need stronger, better governed, more accountable Māori organisations. Organisations designed by Māori, run by Māori, for the benefit of all Māori.

Joshua Hitchcock is a business advisor, accountant, and writer on Māori law, policy and economic development. 

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Close-up of headphones on microphone stand in soundproof recording studio

ĀteaMay 2, 2018

A voiceover artist on being asked to deliberately mispronounce te reo

Close-up of headphones on microphone stand in soundproof recording studio

He showed up to a voice over job and was asked to mispronounce a Māori place name. Dave Ward explains why he chose to speak up instead.

Taika Waititi was right on the money. We have a race issue ​in Aotearoa ​and it’s not going away.

Last week I refused to deliberately mispronounce a Māori place name as requested by a client of a company I contract to as a commercial voice. I’m good at my job. I do it every week and over the years I’ve read thousands of scripts for thousands of satisfied customers. I wasn’t trying to be a diva or deliberately difficult, but I pride myself on the audio product I create. The requested mispronunciation of Waimate (the client wanted ‘WHY MAT EE’) ​was always going to be an aural stone in my shoe. For the first time in my career, I said no. I wasn’t the first person to refuse to do this particular script the way the client wanted it done either. I was just the first to speak out publicly about it.

For the most part, the feedback has been very supportive. But the backlash was ​vicious – and 100% Pākehā. Those who disagree with my stand generally argue that immigrants mispronounce English place names, so should that be considered racist as well? And what about Paris v Par-ee, Mexico v Me-he-co? Come on. Really?

This is not the first time I’ve found myself in trouble for refusing a deliberate mispronunciation request.

Years ago, I was living and working in Marlborough and was required to read a script that had the place name ‘Okaramio’ in it. I was instructed that it was pronounced ‘OAKA-RAMMY-O’ because ‘that’s how it’s said here’. I told them I wasn’t going to do it and received a warning from my employer for refusing a reasonable request. It’s actually “OAR-CAR-A-ME-OAR’. I know this because I rang Ngāi Tahu live on air and asked them for clarification. Another warning.

Pronunciation in New Zealand is all about respect. That’s something that is getting better, but it needs more of us on board. My wife’s name is Anona and she’s been spelling and pronouncing her name to people her entire 40 (something) years of life. People she introduces herself to listen, practise her name in front of her, get it right, and away they go. How difficult is it to apply the same courtesy to a face that is brown and a name that is Māori? A couple of extra attempts might be required, but you’ll have it correct, and the respect of the person or place who owns it.

Naming and shaming the company that requested “the ‘white’ way” achieves nothing. I’m not out to crush or tarnish their business, but I disagree with the attitude that says, ‘I don’t care how it’s supposed to be said and I’ll go with what society dictates’. If this is what society dictates, then society is wrong and needs to change.

I sympathise with the scriptwriter and NZME. Especially the writer. It was the clients request I had a problem with and in my view they’ve been put in an unfair and awkward position, and I really hope this hasn’t caused them any grief. They have a strong Māori pronunciation policy, but when the clients always right you’ve got little choice. Even when they’re wrong.

I have been in and around broadcasting, sport, and general MC work for over 18 years, and correct pronunciation is a huge part of what I do. If I get it wrong, it’s a very public error and makes people cringe,​ ​makes ​me look ignorant, embarrasses the person whose name I’ve gotten wrong or the residents of a place whose name I’ve bastardised, and generally guarantees I won’t get return business.​

Sports commentary is a massive frustration of mine too. Football seems to get the many European names right. The lads from New Plymouth are not TARRA-NACKY, Hamiltonians are not from WHY-CADDO, and TJs surname is not PERRA-NARRA​. Never has been, but these have been made normal by generations of refusal to fix it.

In my opinion, Nigel Yalden is the best commentator in the country, closely followed by Scotty Stevenson. Aside from the fact that their play-by-play call is outstanding, their pronunciation of Māori, Polynesian, African, Georgian or Japanese names, whoever they’re calling, is spot on, every time. If they don’t know how to say it, they ask someone who does. Because they have respect. I’m certainly not the first to point this out, but I don’t know why there’s such a reluctance to ​actually try to get it right. Is it lazy? Is it reluctance for fear of being judged? Is it indifference? Regardless, it’s unacceptable and needs to change.

Standing up and saying something will likely cost me voice work, but so be it. I will not have my standards dictated by the highest bidder. This stance applies to general conversation too. It shouldn’t matter whether my Māori, Polynesian or any other pronunciation is being recorded or not. Have some respect and you’ll be respected for it.

It was only a few decades ago that my dad was caned for speaking Māori in school. That was the ‘white’ way. I’ll continue to have respect for others and pronounce non-English names the correct way. The right way.

Read more

You say Kai-kura, I say Kaikōura: why your inability to pronounce Māori place names pisses me off

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For Tagataese’s sake NRL, stop butchering Polynesian names

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