Family Futures

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Whānau Ora: strengthening Mā ori families
in Aotearoa, New Zealand
Emeritus Professor Sir Mason Durie, Massey University; and Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga,
Indigenous Centre of Research Excellence, New Zealand
A dvancing S ocial I ntegration and I ntergenerational Solidarity
Māori are the indigenous people of Aotearoa
New Zealand. Like indigenous populations
who have been colonized in other parts of the
world, the Māori suffered serious depopulation in the
latter half of the nineteenth century as a consequence
of infectious diseases, musket wars, land losses and
malnutrition. By 1910, however, and largely due to
inspirational indigenous leadership at political, medical
and community levels, a recovery process was evident.
More than a century later, the 2013 New Zealand Census
of Individuals and Dwellings showed that the population
had increased from around 47,000 in 1910 to 598,605, now
accounting for 14 per cent of the total New Zealand popula-
tion. Although slowly ageing, Māori are relatively youthful,
the median age being 24 years compared to 38 years for the
total population. In that respect the population is larger
than it ever has been in the past, with greater rates of
participation in a range of professions and industries. There
are also positive signs of greater participation in tertiary
education. According to the New Zealand Government
Statistician, over 36,000 M āori stated a bachelor’s degree
or higher as their highest qualification at the 2013 Census
– a more than 50 per cent increase since 2006.
Meanwhile, in the face of alarming disparities between
Māori and non-Māori first detailed in 1960, significant
changes to Māori policy were introduced in 1984. The
changes partially reflected the New Zealand Government’s
recognition of the1840 Treaty of Waitangi, under which the
British Crown made certain guarantees to Māori including
recognition of M āori property rights and expectations of
similar citizenship rights and social well-being. The 1984
approach also recognized the right of Māori to retain their
language and culture and to enjoy state-supported M āori
television and radio networks. Importantly, the new mood
saw the emergence of Māori health and social service provid-
ers, Māori language-medium schools, and the introduction
of Māori perspectives into the core business of hospitals,
schools, prisons, universities and government departments.
However, notwithstanding major gains over the previous
three decades, most socioeconomic indicators show that
Māori still fare worse than non-Māori. Life expectancy is
some eight years less; acute and chronic illnesses are two
to three times more frequent; educational achievement is
significantly lower as are incomes, home ownership and
stable employment. Māori rates of imprisonment are higher
than for non-Mā ori, truancy rates are similarly greater and
poverty among Mā ori families is substantially higher than
among other sections of society. According to the 2013 Child
Poverty Monitor, one in three Māori children is deemed to
live in poverty compared to one in seven European children.
In some areas the disparities have increased despite the
increasing number of Māori non-governmental organiza-
tions (NGOs) delivering a wide range of services, mainly in
health and social services. But the services have generally
been small, in competition with each other, and geared
to the resolution of individual crises. Contractual obliga-
tions required by government funders have been narrowly
defined, favouring specific interventions such as truancy,
diabetes management or smoking cessation, and meas-
urements of compliance have focused on accounting for
volumes rather than results. What had been missing was
an approach that could incorporate individually-oriented
Whānau Ora combines social, cultural and economic values to provide
integrated services that contribute to whānau empowerment
Image: Rosalie Liddle Crawford