Maori Party finds the 8th Maori Seat

The Maori Party is rapt today that the eighth Maori electorate seat has been found by Te Puni Kokiri in their report, Maori in Australia.

“Tangata whenua have been telling us, ‘we’ll take the eight in 2008’” said Dr Pita Sharples, Co-leader of the Maori Party.

“And with today’s report identifying that there are now 92, 912 people in Australia who identify as Maori, maybe it’s time to create a new electorate, Te Ao Moemoea”.

“The sad thing is though, we know that our whanaunga are heading across the Tasman because of the pull of higher wages and a better chance to get work; or even worse, being pushed across because of negative experiences in Aotearoa from ‘perceived prejudice” said Dr Sharples.

“Just six weeks ago, the United Nations came out with their report, finding that the Government’s actions “tend to diminish the importance and relevance of the Treaty and to create a context unfavourable to the rights of Maori” said Dr Sharples.

“So hello, who should be surprised that the majority of survey respondents believe that “the environment in Australia is more conducive to success, being relatively free of negative stereotyping of Maori” and of what they call, “limiting expectations”.

“We congratulate Te Puni Kokiri for their initiative in getting so much information together about our whanaunga in Te Ao Moemoea” said Tariana Turia, Co-leader of the Maori Party. “They are our cousins, our sons, our daughters, our whanau – and so it’s really important to have this report in front of us, so that we know what their needs and aspirations are”.

“We don’t blame Maori for wanting to go – to get better wages, to get a job, to have a better life – we wish them all good luck. In fact we know that the lure of good wages is attracting many New Zealanders to Oz – and that’s something which we should all be worried about”.

“The point is, we’d much rather that they had good reason to stay at home in Aotearoa” said Mrs Turia.

“For most of all, our message to our whanaunga in Te Ao Moemoea is hoki mai ki Aotearoa” said Mrs Turia. “But first off, we’ve got to deal with the reasons why Maori are fleeing in such numbers. Reasons like the fact that 23.6% of Maori families are classified as low income; that the average earnings of Maori at $17.31 per hour are still way below European ($20.91) and that the unemployment rate at 7.7% is still over double the average annual rate of 3.7%”.

“These push factors are particularly high for our rangatahi” said Mrs Turia. “The unemployment rate for Maori youth is at 21.4% which is considerably higher than for all 15-19 year olds (14%)”.

“No wonder our young are escaping to the land of dreaming” ended Dr Sharples. “’Cos sometimes it must seem like a living nightmare back home”.