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OPINIONĀteaJune 10, 2021

Kia ora, Paul Goldsmith. Let’s talk about balance

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Last week Paul Goldsmith got himself in some hot water when he told Newshub Nation that colonisation had been good for Māori ‘on balance’. Ātea editor Leonie Hayden dusts off her calculator.

Revisiting a piece he co-wrote in 2019 for the Tuia 250 commemoration, Paul Goldsmith’s (Ngāti Epsom) comments to Newshub Nation last week were an illuminating insight into the minds of some of our Treaty partners.

When asked if he still thought colonisation had been good for Māori, he replied: “The reality is that New Zealand was isolated from the rest of the world for centuries and at some point it had to reconnect with the rest of the world. And that happened in the 19th century was always going to be a very traumatic experience.

“But with it came all sorts of wonderful things, such as literacy, such as the freedoms and democracy that have come through… I think on balance it has, yes.”

At this point there’s so much weird stuff dribbling out of National Party orifices, it almost seems pointless to comment on yet another Pākehā politician‘s take on what the world looks like for Māori, but I was too intrigued by the term “on balance”.  What monstrous scale could possibly weigh the subjugation of a culture against the benefits of invasion?

Now before someone says something hysterical about how if we hate colonisation so much, we shouldn’t use cell phones or cars – the first British settlers did not get here using GPS on the latest iPhone in a Ford Ranger. Those are recent American inventions that are available to people in countries that haven’t been colonised by America. If we’re giving up sovereignty to countries based on our use of their technological advances, Cook and friends would have turned up on these shores speaking a Chinese language, thanks to the paper, printing, gunpowder and compasses required to colonise the shit out of other countries.

Sure, we have no way of proving what a Māori society would look like today if violent settler colonialism hadn’t occurred, but as we were already exploring and trading with other countries and adapting to new farming techniques and crops like wheat long before Te Tiriti o Waitangi was signed, presumably we would have continued to explore, progress and adapt to the changing world in our own Māori way because we are, as a people, incredibly innovative. Fun fact: you can trade with a country without beating the children there until they speak the same language as you.

What I’m saying is – without colonisation, there’s every chance we’d still be using cell phones today. We’d just be texting in te reo Māori.

“On balance” is an interesting exercise. What does that balance sheet look like? This is by no means exhaustive (the true balance sheet includes every Treaty claim that has been and is yet to be made, every death from starvation, state brutality and inequitable medical treatment, every abuse and micro aggression that went unrecorded, every bullied and overlooked Māori kid, every polluted drop of water, quarried rock and pine where a native tree once stood). And let’s distinguish between things that are here in Aotearoa because of colonisation by the British Empire, not just things that were invented by white people, because as we’ve already identified, progress can occur in non-colonised countries thanks to travel, technology and trade, and the British didn’t invent every-damn-thing. So …

Pros

Literacy

As a writer and avid reader it’s a nice to have, but did “literacy” improve te ao Māori to a degree that eclipses our own whare wānanga and storytelling traditions using spoken word, dance, song and visual arts? Nah.
+ 0

Democracy

Sorry Paora, te ao Māori forms of democracy were far more democratic than the Western world’s at the time the Westminster system was introduced. Leadership could be achieved by those not from a chiefly family, by displaying actual leadership qualities, and women and children got to have a say on community matters for many centuries before women were “given the vote” in this country.
– 50

John Campbell

I mean, he’s John Campbell.
+ 20

Salt n vinegar chips

The whole potato, sure, but specifically in this form.
+10

Our families and friends

This is, by far, the only true pro – that some of our nearest and dearest were brought to us via their ancestors hopping on a boat for the new world and hoping for the best. Some of those ancestors made terrible decisions and participated in a campaign of subjugation and theft, which they passed down through many generations. I don’t look at my tauiwi friends and family and blame them for that – we’re only accountable for our actions and words in this life, and I’m thankful on the daily for those trying to make the place better for all of us.
+ 1000

Cons

Land theft and ‘ownership’

Māori land alienation can be attributed to three main mechanisms: raupatu, confiscation as punishment to those iwi and hapū who defended their whenua against invasion; sales through the Native Land Court, a Pākehā-controlled court designed to convert customary title to individual title, effectively making it easier for land to be sold to settlers, and almost impossible for Māori to maintain traditional ownership structures; and the Public Works Act, where the Crown could take land as they saw fit to build roads, railways and other public works. Unsurprisingly, Māori land was favoured over Pākehā for “compulsory acquisition”. No land = no place to stand = lost identity, irreparably undermining the mana of iwi Māori, Papatūānuku and her children.
– 10,000

Diseases

To be fair we don’t know a lot about which diseases were endemic to New Zealand before the arrival of Europeans, but some of the more exciting ones introduced in the early days were dysentery, mumps, whooping cough, polio, measles, tuberculosis and venereal diseases! And then during the influenza pandemic Māori died at eight times the rate of Pākehā! And now we have a provably inequitable health system!
– 1000

Misogyny

Believe it or not, “mana wāhine” is a relatively recent term. Why? Because 200 years ago the idea that you would need a term to distinguish that women have mana would be met with a resounding “well duuuuh”. Thank you colonisation for introducing us to the patriarchy.
– 1000

Decline of the extended family

Caring for elders, intergenerational learning and collective child rearing certainly sounds nicer than isolation and loneliness.
– 100

Prisons

Te ao Māori didn’t require prisons – justice (or balance) was achieved through take/utu/ea (issue, cost, resolution). Once an issue or conflict (take) had been identified, the utu refers to a mutually agreed upon cost or action that must be undertaken to resolve it, leading to ea – debt repaid. Colonisation laid a legal framework over ours that was punitive and benefited one side inequitably (hint: that side was not “the Māori”) diminishing the mana of all.
– 1000

The New Zealand Wars

– 1000

Shitty rivers

Between 95 and 99% of all New Zealand rivers running through urban and farming areas carry pollution above water quality guidelines, 90% of the nation’s wetlands have been drained, and 76% of freshwater fish species are threatened or at risk.
– 100

Loss of language

Assimilation was, unfortunately, an agenda pushed by many Māori leaders as well as our government in (I imagine) an attempt to mitigate the worst aspects of colonisation for Māori. Speaking English was seen as essential for becoming a respected citizen of New Zealand.

To quote Audre Lorde: “For the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house. They may allow us temporarily to beat him at his own game, but they will never enable us to bring about genuine change.”

Luckily our reo rangatira survived and many advocates fight to this day to help it grow stronger again, but as with much of being Māori, it’s a fight that should never have been brought to us.

– 1000

Total: – 14,220

If this was my overdraft I wouldn’t be making comments publicly about how great I am at saving, you know?

Quanilla Paraha with Adrienne Dalton at Te Whāngai Trust’s Pukekohue hub. (Photo: Justin Latif)
Quanilla Paraha with Adrienne Dalton at Te Whāngai Trust’s Pukekohue hub. (Photo: Justin Latif)

ĀteaJune 8, 2021

The plant nursery helping young South Aucklanders find direction, and jobs

Quanilla Paraha with Adrienne Dalton at Te Whāngai Trust’s Pukekohue hub. (Photo: Justin Latif)
Quanilla Paraha with Adrienne Dalton at Te Whāngai Trust’s Pukekohue hub. (Photo: Justin Latif)

Te Whāngai Trust utilises the Māori concepts of whāngai and whānau to help young South Aucklanders turn their lives around and find a career – and they do it by growing plants. Justin Latif headed out to their Pukekohe site to find out more.

4am: Adrienne Dalton is roused by her husband Gary with a cup of tea. 

4.45am: Gary jumps in a van to pick up a group of students in Huntly, while Adrienne heads into the office to begin her admin work for the day. 

Gary makes the two-hour round trip everyday to collect suspended pupils from a high school so they can get some work experience at one of five plant nurseries run by the couple’s Te Whāngai Trust. 

Over the last 14 years the former farmers have swapped milking cows at the crack of dawn for helping hundreds of troubled youth “ignite a flame”, as Adrienne puts it, and hopefully get them started on a career.

As part of the government’s Jobs For Nature programme, acting conservation minister Dr Ayesha Verrall announced last month that the trust will get a share of a $2.5 million grant to boost employment opportunities in the nature and conservation sector. Te Whāngai will use the funding to support a project to grow 480,000 native plants for riparian planting and urban landscaping.

Adrienne Dalton says the project, called Mana in Kaimahi, offers the opportunity to staircase ex-prisoners and those who have left school early into nature-based jobs. 

“It’s the perfect way to combine the healing aspects of working in nature for our kids and our people who are coming out of prison. We give them wraparound care, get them budgeting, we build up their life skills, so they learn how to earn. And every Friday they come here and all do NZQA qualifications.”

Te Whāngai Trust’s workers at their Pukekohe hub during a visit from Manurewa MP Arena Williams. (Photo: Justin Latif)

‘It’s like family’

Despite the bitter winds whistling between the glasshouses, Quanilla Paraha’s effervescence isn’t dimmed. 

The bubbly 19-year-old says working at the trust has changed her life. “When the cops came to my house for my brother, I asked them if they knew of any jobs or courses, and I’ve been here ever since.” 

Paraha attended Papakura High School, but left early after deciding school “wasn’t for me”. When she first arrived at Te Whāngai she was “really quiet”, she says, but the organisation helped her to come out of her shell. 

Now, two and a half years later, “it’s like family, this place”.

Alongside her work in the nurseries, Paraha is studying business and her goal is to take on a managerial role within the organisation. 

“I’d like to show other young people what they can do, rather than just sitting around doing nothing.”

Whāngai: to nourish

One translation of whāngai is to nourish or raise up. It’s also the word describing the traditional Māori practice of raising a relative’s child. For the Daltons, the term is personal.

Adrienne’s Pākehā father was taken in by his Māori uncle’s family, and she says that family experience inspired her and her husband to make traditional Māori practices the basis for their charity’s work.

“Each nursery is essentially run by local iwi, and we’ve always had those connections. Because my dad was whāngai, he grew up to respect tikanga and indigenous values.”

Adrienne has a background in special needs education and social care but it was the tragic death of their daughter Leigh in a car accident that motivated Adrienne and Gary to start the trust in 2007, “to honour [Leigh’s] commitment to people and the environment”.

“We saw that kids who we knew through sports or who visited us were ending up in Waikeria [prison] and we thought there had to be a way to support them. And we did it through the land.”

While the Ministry of Social Development provided initial support for the trust, when the government changed the funding was withdrawn. “So we just took out a mortgage and built our first nursery, and we’ve just carried the kaupapa on.”

Adrienne Dalton gave a tour of the trust’s Pukekohe hub to Manurewa MP Arena Williams following the government’s Jobs For Nature funding announcement. (Photo: Justin Latif)

Taking on the big boys

Te Whāngai Trust has an annual turnover of $3 million from supplying plants to organisations such as the Department of Conservation, Waikato Regional Council, Auckland Council and Panuku Development Auckland. It also has a range of corporate supporters including NZ Steel, Datacom and Microsoft. 

But the nursery industry can be tough, and the trust struggles to get contracts on large roading or commercial developments. 

Adrienne says being able to join Auckland Council’s Amotai supplier diversity network, enabling the trust to be a supplier for those bigger projects, would make a significant difference . 

“But we’ve been told we can’t join because, even though we have indigenous frameworks and principles, we aren’t strictly an Māori organisation. We totally understand why that criteria is in place, but we believe it’s a gap in the system, given we have an indigenous framework and values in place.”

Auckland Council’s general manager for community and social innovation Tania Pouwhare said that while the trust isn’t eligible for Amotai, it can still access support as a social enterprise and get funding from the council’s Southern Initiative which helps organisations working with young people in South and West Auckland to help them move into employment.

“Te Whāngai Trust not being 50% Māori or Pasifika-owned would not prevent them from tendering for council contracts,” Pouwhare said. 

“As a social enterprise, they can register with [social procurement platform] FWD in regard to the council’s procurement targets, [as] social enterprises are on the same footing as Māori and Pasifika-owned businesses.”

Generational change

According to Te Whāngai Trust’s website the organisation has planted over a million trees, and helped more than 500 people into work. Adrienne says it’s both draining and incredibly rewarding work.

“Most of the kids we work with are involved in drugs in some way or another. And those that come out of prison are really hard and bitter. So it can be really hard to not get too emotional. 

“But for every kid that sees the light, you know that’s a once in a generation change you’ve been able to help.

“These kids were deemed unemployable but they’re actually bloody amazing, and they have amazing resilience that no one else has got.”