Debate on Crown Entities, Public Organisations, and State Enterprises — New Zealand Tourism Board

Tēnā koe. In the short time I have got available, I did want to put a Māori Party point of view, and that is that it was pretty disappointing to read the report of the Commerce Committee about 2011-12 and see the extent of the 2011-12 performance summarised in one sentence: “no matters to bring to the attention of the House.” That is what the committee said: “no matters to bring to the attention of the House.” With that, the report of the New Zealand Tourism Board, presented on 9 November last year, and the deliberations of the committee on 6 December are now on record as comprising no matters for our attention.

I have to say that one would have expected a little bit more from the committee. I mean, I would love to see this House debating a whole range of issues, including the current tourism focus, which has been on the “100% Pure New Zealand” brand. That is great. It reflects our environmental values, a concept central to Māori Party psyche and what we commonly call kaitiakitanga. But I wonder what consideration has been given to, for example, the unique value of our cultural tourism in Aotearoa. What, indeed, has been given to nurture our Māori operators in the tourism industry?

Sometimes I think that we need to challenge ourselves about the things we do as a country by not recognising some of the things that are actually right under our noses. In that regard, I am talking about things Māori. This was discussed, I think, by a woman by the name of Pania Tyson-Nathan when she, at the recent Trenz event, encouraged tourism operators and said that Māori tourism is not about just entertainment value. Māori culture and the tourism product are important to our economy and to the cultural, social, and psychological frame of our country.

Tourism is an industry where Māori are moving up the management chain from being just performers in the old days to managers, owners, and entrepreneurs, and are developing Māori models of tourism business, collaborating off the leverage of the Māori edge and integrating—

I am so sorry to interrupt the member. He will be able to conclude his call at 7.30 p.m., when I resume the Chair, for now is the time for the dinner adjournment.

Sitting suspended from 6 p.m. to 7.30 p.m.

Report noted.

Reserve Bank of New Zealand