I te kauhau tuatahi a Te Arikinui Kuini Nga wai hono i te po, kua rangona tuatahitia tōna reo nō te rironga atu o tōna Pāpā, Kiingi Tuheitia. Ka mutu, e aro atu nei ia ki te oranga tonutanga o te iwi Māori ā ōhanga nei, kia kaua e noho te kāwanatanga hei taituarā mō rātou.
Te Arikinui has set her vision for the future: one that rejects reliance on government support and instead builds an independent Māori economic path.
Hei tā Te Arikinui “Ko ēnei kaupapa, a Ōhanga Ki Te Ao, me Tahua Kotahitanga, he moemoeā nō taku pāpā, me te tiketike hoki o aua moemoeā rā, heoi, pēnei i taku pāpā, ka tuarā pahore, ka taniwha nihorau hoki taku kōkiri i ēnei kaupapa kia rangatira ai, kāo, kia ariki ai i ahau ana ōhākī.”
Central to this is a $30 million Kotahitanga Fund designed to provide resilience against government decisions that unduly influence the Māori economy. The fund will be a Māori-owned and controlled investment platform funded by iwi capital and co-investors.
She is also calling for Ōhanga Ki Te Ao, an Indigenous economic summit scheduled for later this year, to advance this vision.
She says the initiatives are based on the vision of her father, Kiingi Tuheitia to help Māori achieve their aspirations of Tino Rangatiratanga and Mana Motuhake.
“Ehara te Mana Motuhake i te kupu noa iho ki ahau, he oranga tēnei nōku. Ko taku pāpā te ika o tāna anō kaupapa, ā, e kore e moumou i ahau tana hā ki runga ki te whenua,” hei tā te Arikinui.
The Māori economy in New Zealand is a rapidly growing, contributing significantly to the national economy with an asset base of approximately $126 billion and an economic contribution of around $32 billion in 2023.
