community in NZ increases
p. 54 · Read in the full issue
Opinion
Focus on Pacific Island community in NZ increases
Cynics might say it is due to this being elec tion year, but there does appear to have been a bit of a drive by the government to do something for the Pacific Island and Maori communities in New Zealand in recent months.
Or at least to “talk” about doing something - to produce some more reports, announce some new targets and so on. Whether all this succeeds in improving the lots of the nation’s most under privileged and disadvantaged people, only time will tell, but the increasing focus on them can only be welcomed.
The island community particularly will come into focus this month with a three-day Pacific Vision conference in Auckland designed to address issues of leadership, partnership, identity, society and prosperity for Pacific people in this country.
Organised by the Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs, it could be just another talkfest, but optimists hope it will point to some new directions for the future. It is not, of course, only the short-term issue of politicians wooing votes.
The Maori and Pacific Island populations are growing at a faster rate than Europeans and everyone acknowledges that if they continue to live with poor housing and education, low incomes and high unemployment New Zealand is heading for a social and racial disaster. The Pacific population doubled to more than 200,000 in the 15 years to the 1996 census and by the middle of the next century, one in 10 New Zealanders will be of Pacific descent. More than 20 percent of the total population will be Maori. Most of them will live, as they do now, in the Auckland region - a worrying prospect if the country’s biggest urban con centration has to rely on a predominantly Polynesian workforce that is ill-educated, badly-housed and unhappy.
Currently, nearly four out of 10 Pacific people and one-in- three Maori are under 15. The future of their communities in the 21st century lies in their hands and in a restructured economy that has no place for unskilled labour, lack of education means little prospect of them finding jobs. Their parents have already learned that. As we near the start of the next century, 19 percent of Maori workers and 14.5 percent of the ethnic island labour force are job less, compared with 5.6 percent of pakeha. Figures in the 1996
census showed some progress was being made in education.
Between 1990 and 1996 the number of Pacific Island university graduates increased 200 percent. Maori numbers quadrupled.
But still fewer than 500 Pacific people graduate each year and while Maori numbers are three times that, they still tend to leave university with lower level qualifications than their pakeha coun terparts. Sensible then for the government to start with education.
One initiative announced recently is to increase the number of Pacific Island teachers - at present only 350 when, on a proportion of population, it should be at least 1300.
With the 75,000 Pacific pupils in New Zealand schools due to rise to 120,000 in 30 years, it is recognised that more teachers responsive to their needs and learning styles are needed to provide positive role models. The need to improve education was high lighted in the 1996 census showing that 41 percent of all Maori children under 15 lived in families with an annual income of less than $20,000. At that time, one in every two Maori women over 15 had received a government benefit in the previous year.
Housing and health are associated issues, both destined to fea ture strongly in this year’s election campaign. A 1997 report on Pacific people said they faced high housing costs, overcrowding and with more people than most other households unsuitable home designs. Rents in Auckland, where two-thirds of island families live, are the highest in the country and have risen faster than other areas in recent years. Statistics show the average rental for state and council homes has risen 102 percent in the last seven years as the government moved previously subsidised rents to market lev els. Although the government’s accommodation supplement has gone a long way to offsetting rent rises, the statistics show the average family now pays 31 percent of its total income on rent compared with 18.5 percent 12 years ago.
The opposition Labour Party, which has pledged to cut state house rents to no more than 25 percent of household income, says 1000 Maori families in Northland and 350 on the East Cape are currently living in “seriously sub-standard” housing.
The government acknowledged the need to improve health ser vices for the Pacific Island and Maori communities in a recent medium-term strategy report giving them priority. It noted the dis parity in their health and that of the pakeha population was linked to socio-economic status and access to services.
An innovative idea to improve Maori health began on national television in May with the debut of “Maraerobics” - a Maori lan guage get-fit exercise programme taught by a troupe of teenagers.
Aimed at youngsters, the aerobic programme is interspersed with a range of health and safety messages, including “Never smoke”, “brush your teeth twice a day”, “wear a seatbelt” and “wear a helmet”. Programmer creator Tahuna Minhinnick, noted that traditional government funding for Maori health had always focused “on the misery of Maori, the treatment of sickness and disease”. “What this taps into are the aspirations of Maori people and improving attitudes to health,” he said.
If it works, it will be half a million dollars of taxpayer money well spent and a small but positive step towards improving the lot of the Polynesian community in New Zealand. ■
David Barber