Two big political events over weekend with the Labour Party Conference in Auckland and the inaugural Ōhanga ki te Ao Māori Economic Summit in Hamilton.
Labour’s conference launched safe sensible policy to a fired up Party Membership but it was the Māori Queen’s multi-million-dollar investment platform that really caused heads to turn.
How Māoridom leverage their $126 billion economy when this current Government have done all they can to undermine the Treaty and denigrate Māori is now a real challenge for the Māori economy.
This new investment model promoted by the Queen had real heavyweights attending from Air New Zealand chief executive Greg Foran to former Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr.
This was a serious and robust conference highlighting the real ecomin muscle Māori now have and without a clear partner in terms of the Crown, they are seeking their own Investment Funds and Economic sovereignty.
The chief executive of the International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds, Duncan Bonfield, manages $10 trillion in assets and he was at the Māori Economic Summit in Hamilton. A major player like that appearing alongside NZ’s own cream of the crop CEOs and Economic minds ishows how important the Māori Economy now is.
Labour had a safe conference with very mild policy ideas to win the middle, the Queen however showed she had no reservations in promoting transformative change.
I think New Zealand’s economic dynamism will be Māori led.
