Forty years on from the neoliberal economic reforms known as ‘Rogernomics’ were implemented in Aotearoa, advisor on Te Tiriti o Waitangi, environmental policy and engagement Jo Waitoa argues that it’s time to reform the economy again.
Aotearoa in 1984. Pātea Māori Club hit the music charts with Poi E, the first waiata Māori ever to do so. Written by Ngoi Pēwhairangi and music by Dalvanius Prime, the song spent 22 weeks in the music charts, with four of those weeks at number one.
This month we mark another significant date in 1984 – the fortieth anniversary of the snap election that brought in the fourth Labour Government. This period became synonymous with privatisation, deregulation and free market capitalism. The economy went from one of the most regulated in the OECD to one of the least.
In the United States and United Kingdom, the economic ideology was nicknamed Reaganism and Thatcherism, respectively. In Aotearoa, the beginning of our neoliberal era was Rogernomics.
Forty years later, trickle-down theory merely filled the cups of the wealthy few. Māori inequality started when the Crown undermined political and legal systems, and dispossessed land through theft and policy in the 19th and 20th centuries (5% or 1.4 million ha of Māori land remains today). This was compounded when waves of urban migration after World War II locked many Māori into low paid, and (so called) low skilled jobs. Most of those were jobs in government run industries so privatisation hit disproportionately hard. By 1992, Māori unemployment had reached 25% compared to the overall rate of 10%.
Widespread job losses led many to intergenerational dependence on state welfare which has further exacerbated inequality for whānau in health, education, and economic outcomes to name a few. This was coupled with the introduction of a Goods and Services Tax (GST) which also particularly impacted those on low incomes.
The economic system is not broken, it was designed this way. But that means it can be redesigned.
Economic growth at all costs will cost all our mokopuna their future, but it doesn’t have to be that way. It is not a foregone conclusion that the economic system is extractive and inequitable.
A common refrain across civil society is “what is good for Māori is good for everyone”. Kaupapa Māori frameworks have benefited communities across Aotearoa. For example, Te Whare Tapa Whā (a holistic health model) informs now informs mainstream approaches to health and wellbeing and the reciprocal “Ako: learner as teacher” model is a key principle in the study of teaching in this country.
The economy is no different.
An economy or economies based on manaakitanga, whanaungatanga, kaitiakitanga could set everyone up to live well, within connected communities and planetary boundaries. What if rāhui were respected and our ecosystems were regenerated, or our sense of obligation to each other meant that no one went hungry?
The devolved approach of the fourth Labour government was welcomed by some iwi leaders at the time and seen as an improvement from previous paternalistic attitudes. Positive Māori development was a focus at the 1984 Hui Taumata, Māori Economic Summit and was followed by a period more focused on self-sufficiency, with the devolution of several state functions (mainly health and social services) to iwi authorities. It was questioned, however, whether this approach just allowed the Crown to abdicate its responsibilities to honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
Today, iwi capacity and access to resources is varied. Some are well funded organisations which deliver a wide range of services while others have to run mostly on aroha. Crown settlement processes which force groups to arrange themselves in unhelpful ways to seek redress may have created more issues than they solved. Now its often iwi facing calls for devolution. Hapū who are the kaitiaki and authority on the ground, now seek opportunities to make their own decisions with their own resources.
Meanwhile leaders might be criticised as “elites” who have bought into western economic imperatives in the pursuit of increasing returns. It is more nuanced than this though. Treaty settlement redress stands at about 2% of what was taken. Leaders have a responsibility to their tīpuna and their mokopuna but they are also faced with how to deliver for their people today, many of whom are doing it really tough. The vast economic inequality among Māori also illustrates the failure of the neoliberal project.
People will argue it’s too big or too difficult to do anything different, but we already are. Wakatu Incorporated have a 500-year intergenerational plan. Communities across Aotearoa (and the world) have returned to localism. Food sovereignty initiatives have drawn attention to the need for resilient systems but are also an opportunity for people to learn skills and connect with where their food comes from. Para Kore for example supports organisations to grow their own food, divert waste from landfill and be a better ancestor.
There is of course much more required. There are many interests vested in the status quo. As Matthew Scobie and Anna Sturman noted in The Economic Possibilities of Decolonisation (2024), we need an economic transformation, similar to the constitutional transformation Aotearoa needs to create the future envisioned by those who signed Te Tiriti o Waitangi. As usual, Matua Moana Jackson said it best: “Being courageous is just the deep breath you take before you start something difficult.”
We can reimagine the economy. We just need imagination and courage.