The Round Table: A forum for Maori views, perspectives

Tu Tangata, Issue 2, 1 October 1981, Page 13

The Round Table: A forum for Maori views, perspectives

Ever since King Arthur’s days, a Round Table has been associated with making plans and forming strategies vital to the development of a people, a nation or a race.

Here in New Zealand, that same concept exists for a small group of Maori people charged with the job of producing, for the country’s planners and decision makers, a set of Maori viewpoints and perspectives on the country’s development. The group meet under the name of the Round Table, set up by the New Zealand Planning Council, which was itself established in 1977.

The council has a broad brief which covers both advising Government on planning for the country’s economic, social, and cultural development and stimulating New Zealanders to think about issues likely to confront us over the next few years. It has close links with the decision makers in Government and has the right to publish on important issues of the day.

Originally the group was called Rangi’s Round Table, after Planning Council member, Dr Rangi MeteKingi. The efforts of that group led to the publication in 1979 of the book “He Matapuna a Source” which is a collection of viewpoints from 12 noted Maori contributors. To date, the Maori members on the New Zealand Planning Council have been Dr Mete-Kingi, Miss Anne Delamere and currently, Chief Judge Durie, who has taken over from Dr Mete-Kingi as convenor of the Round T a bl e . The Maori members of the council

secretariat, of 12 professionals with support staff, have been Mr Wishie Jaram and Mrs Tilly Reedy, who was the secretary organiser of the activities of the original Round Table. Her duties were assumed by Rana Waitai when he joined the secretariat in August, 1980. The group of Maori leaders and thinkers who produced “He Matapuna’’ provided a useful introduction to important issues of New Zealand’s development as seen through Maori eyes. However, on the advice of its Maori colleagues, the council, decided that input should be obtained from a wider range of Maori “grass roots’’ opinion in the second phase of the Round Table’s existence. One year after his appointment as secretary/organiser, Rana Waitai describes how this objective was achieved. Tuning in to the dynamics of Maoridom is a massive task and

therefore there are limits to what can be achieved by a static “think tank”. Bishop Manuhuia Bennett had to some extent hinted at this in his summary of He Matapuna when he said: “The one thing that calls for an immediate reaction is the fact that nearly all the contributors belong to the same socio-economic academic group.” The Round Table membership themselves seemed to sense the need for a broader range of membership and so the concept that was to emerge in 1980 was a natural evolution f° r th e Round Table idea.

CHANGING MEMBERSHIP Instead of a fixed group, which although given the best will in the world can only by its inherent nature touch a small area of Maoridom it was decided that a more effective canvassing could be achieved by means of a constantly changing membership. Although constantly changing, the membership remained fairly exclusive in that it was on an invitationonly basis. This was necessary to prevent the Round Table becoming a general forum for airing views unrelated to the issue under discussion. By balancing the range of people invited it was possible to guarantee a voice to people who do not normally indulge in public debate. NEW STYLE To date, in terms of the new style Round Table, eight meetings have been convened and some 58 people have attended. As a rule a maximum

of ten persons are invited as this is a comfortable number. From the first meeting which was two hours long, the time period now is likely to be six or seven hours. The topics dealt with to date include general directions, aspects of social change as it affects the Maori, employment, justice, land use, education, the role of women and youth in

Maori development, and Maori participation in the decision making process.

In most cases the topics have been so broad that quite often only the surface has been scratched. Nevertheless, it is only a matter of narrowing the focus to cause some surprising insights and initiatives to emerge from people who may not normally have access to the higher realms of policy making.

For example, Kingi Houkamou, who is a bulldozer contractor from Hicks Bay, brought to the Table his idea of an internal sabbatical for school teachers; Mike Kitchen outlined his freezing workers-forestry venture; Dennis Hanson outlined what the John Waititi Marae is doing to overcome the juvenile offending rate; Jenny Wilson from Kaikoura outlined the Honorary Probation Officer scheme that she worked with in Australia and Georgina Kirby explained initiatives being taken in Freemans Bay to overcome the unemployment problem.

In terms of the kaupapa of the Round Table, selection of participants was aimed at bringing in as wide a coverage as possible in terms of age, sex, occupation and income, geographic location and general life experience.

Some of those who have attended are: Tahu Asher, a marae worker; Lorna Dyall, a researcher; Claude Edwards, a farmer from Opotiki; Pauline Kingi, a solicitor from Auckland; Ruka Broughton, from Wellington; Yvonne Nicholas, a Wellington taxi driver; Api Mahuika, a farmer from Tikitiki; Hori Tamihana, a marae worker and Tumanako Wereta who until recently was the president of the Southland Meatworkers Union. The younger generation has been present in the form of Phillip Marshall, Alison Green and Penny Poutu.

FURTHER DEPARTURE

Some 19 women have attended and in a further departure from the previous format, non-Maori participation has been sought where there is a special ‘Maori’ contribution to be offered.

Hence, Paul Green an American sociologist with in-depth race relations experience has attended as has the Secretary of Justice Mr John Robertson, and the Mayor of Wellington, Sir Michael Fowler. Each had a particular dimension to add to the matter under discussion.

Two people in particular have attended most Round Table meetings

John Tahuparae because of his marae skills is the ‘resident’ kaumatua and Iri Tawhiwhirangi injects a Tu Tangata component into most of the meetings.

DIVERSITY

Each Round Table meeting is opened with karakia and it matters not which religious denomination conducts the prayer.

Religious lines and political affiliations are of no consequence for Round Table purposes. Accordingly the participants tend to come from right across the spiritual and political spectrum. The strength of the Round Table lies in its diversity.

Only a minimum of information is given in advance so that the participants while being able to do some preparation are able to remain flexible.

The meetings are structured only loosely so as to remove the idea of a ‘chat’ session, a basic framework is established and a strong informality is maintained.

Apart from the karakia, powhiri and replies, most of the meeting is conducted in English. Many participants do not have a strong command of the Maori language and in ordinary circumstances, would feel constrained from speaking in a marae situation.

This constraint is overcome at the Round Table although it is from time to time necessary to coax the fullest out of participants, quite often because they do not realise how much they know and how much others would value it.

At the end of each meeting a draft of discussions is sent to the participants involved and they are invited to add or extract.

All members of the Planning Council, which is chaired by Sir Frank Holmes, are given a copy of the transcript and as one of the members is Cabinet Minister, Mr Bill Birch, there is potentially a direct route from the Round Table to the top level of policy consideration.

Members of the council and its secretariat customarily attend Round Table meetings, to get a first-hand insight into Maori opinions; and some of the future Round Tables will be specifically related to Planning Council projects e.g. on developments in the rural areas.

That then is the Round Table. It is hoped that in future issues of Tu Tangata some of the discussion that have emerged will be presented.