Policy and Monitoring - Economic and Enterprise

Description

Within this output class the Minister purchased:

• advice on policies and programmes that specifically impacted on realising the social and cultural potential of Māori people and resources across the three dimensions of mātauranga, whakamana and rawa to support economic transformation, the development of national identity and strengthening families; and
• monitoring of other state sector agencies’ policies and programmes that were intended to realise the social and cultural potential of Māori people and resources across the three dimensions of mātauranga, whakamana and rawa, to support economic transformation, the development of national identity and strengthening families.

Quality, quantity and timeliness performance measures for Ministerial Servicing and Policy Advice are reported under Ministerial Servicing Performance in this report.

All work produced was aligned to key themes contained in the Statement of Intent 2006/07. The specific outputs included:

Develop a Māori Economic Forecasting Report (economic transformation)

in 2006/07 Te Puni Kōkiri completed substantial research and analysis work that has been compiled to form the draft Māori Economic Forecast Report. The report is intended to create an informed understanding of the possible future drivers of influence affecting how Māori participate in both the New Zealand and global future economic systems; and focus attention on the decisions that need to be made today to ensure active participation and shareholding of Māori in future economic systems.

The focus for future economic growth will be better utilisation of assets as well as diversification of the asset base to ensure a more even spread of risk across the portfolio of Māori assets. Innovation and adoption of new technologies will give Māori the tools to participate in new sectors as well as finding ways to remain profitable in existing sectors.

Provide advice on, and monitor, issues and opportunities for enhancing Māori employment outcomes (economic transformation)

During 2006/07, Te Puni Kōkiri undertook an analysis of statistical and qualitative research about Key Issues in Māori Employment. This analysis has provided the basis for our policy advice about the Working New Zealand work-stream which addressed employment development and benefit reform. In particular, Te Puni Kōkiri worked closely with the Ministry for Social Development to progressively develop and confirm the Māori Employment Framework. This framework sets out principles, outcomes and indicators for Māori employment policy, and provides the basis to monitor and evaluate programmes and services that are designed to promote Māori employment outcomes. In addition, we provided policy advice about various aspects of benefit reform that were considered through the Working New Zealand work-stream.

Provide advice on, and monitor, issues and opportunities to grow Māori enterprise opportunities (economic transformation)

Review of the Māori Trustee

Several papers were prepared in 2006/07 that sought decisions from Cabinet in order to progress the ongoing review of the Māori Trustee. These included:

• proposals that enhance Māori economic development opportunities;
• proposed structure of the Māori Trustee (a statutory body corporate on schedule 4 of the Public Finance Act); and
• agreement to legislative changes required to implement the outcomes of the review, subject to consultation with Māori.

Provide advice on, and monitor, issues and opportunities to maximise the potential of collectively owned Māori assets (economic transformation)

Provide advice on, and monitor, issues and opportunities to support the retention and development of Māori land (economic transformation)

As part of the Government’s Māori Land Development Action Plan, agreed to by Cabinet in August 2006, Te Puni Kōkiri commenced a programme of action to facilitate and promote Māori land economic development in 2006/07. The purpose of the programme of action is to achieve measurable and sustainable Māori land economic development through funding the facilitation of Māori land projects. The focus during 2006/07 has been on purchasing project management services to plan and commence projects and on expert assessments to ascertain development potential.

To date the Programme of Action has achieved the following outcomes:

1. Facilitated Māori land owners to identify promising land development opportunities and pathways to achieve this;
2. Employed contractors with specialist skills and experience to assist with land development projects where appropriate;
3. Established an advisory group of Māori practitioners with wide-ranging experience in Māori land development activities; and
4. Conducted on the ground assessment of the current economic utilisation of Māori land blocks and their potential for better economic utilisation.

Te Puni Kōkiri engaged with the owners of 63 Māori Land interest/blocks from which 22 blocks, covering 626 hectares, were selected for further assessment regarding their potential for better economic utilisation through arrangements, including leases and joint venture agreements.

Through the engagement of a contractor with specialist skills and experience to assist landowners the following tangible results have been achieved:

• arranged new cropping leases to plant squash in four Porangahau land blocks;
• progressed work on arranging lease agreements for a number of Pakipaki and Omahu land blocks and has explored the possibility of leasing additional Omahu land blocks; and
• made progress towards agreeing new development leases for the Kuru (Porangahau) and Kani (Porangahau) farming blocks.
• This project has also been working towards facilitating land development and improvements in land capital value. This has been progressed through:
  • arranging a new irrigation well for the Pakipaki land blocks;
  • completing a test bore, new well and drainage scheme for the Wharerangi land blocks;
  • planning visible improvements to the Kuru (Poranhgahau) and Kani (Porangahau) farming blocks; and
  • making visible improvements to all blocks newly included in cropping leases.
• in Kaikoura work was conducted to assist the owners of three blocks of undeveloped urban land in Kaikoura to identify the preferred development options for their land by employing ‘The Project Leadership Group Ltd’ as a project manager. The following work was completed in 2006/07:
  • two meetings with a quorum of the trustees was convened;
  • worked with the owners of the three land blocks to identify a preferred development option for their land;
  • completed a survey and needs analysis for each site under investigation, in relation to both the town and the sites, and reviewing the land in terms of the district plan; and
  • compiled a list of development options for the landowners consideration.
• In Anewa and Ohuia work was conducted to assist the owners of Anewa station and Ohuia station by employing a registered farm management consultant based in Taumaranui, to identify the current performance of farming operations on their land, the sustainable economic potential of their land, and practical pathways to achieve the sustainable economic potential of their land and the landowners’ prime objectives. This project was completed in 2006/07 and a final report provided to Te Puni Kōkiri. The project has been successful in achieving the desired outcomes, in particular:
  • by working with the trustees of Anewa and Ohuia stations to prepare two written reports detailing current performance, estimated sustainable economic potential, options and a recommended pathway to achieve the estimated sustainable economic potential;
  • assessing the owners’ prime objectives and consideration of opportunities, for Anewa and Ohuia to combine resources and/or work in partnership; and
  • discussing the relevant report with each group of trustees and providing assistance in agreeing on their preferred development path and presenting the key findings to meetings of the beneficiaries.

Te Puni Kōkiri continues to facilitate and promote Māori land economic development through this and other programmes. Additionally, Te Puni Kōkiri will continue to manage, monitor and support these and other projects to ensure positive outcomes are achieved.

Realising Māori Commercial Success. The performance measure required the administering of the Māori Business Facilitation Service.

The Māori Business Facilitation Service was formed in 2000 to provide advice and mentoring assistance to Māori wishing to start a business. Over time the core service has changed its focus and approach, refining the way in which it provides services, and in 2006 was the Winner of the 2006 Vero Excellence in Business Support Awards (Public-Private Partnership Category).

As mentioned in the last Annual report, the Māori Business Facilitation Service in 2006/07 has altered its strategic focus to provide more flexible and innovative approaches across a range of activities that support Māori commercial success. These included:

• Working to support Māori business networks and sector development initiatives;
• Supporting governance and management of Māori commercial entities through information and direct assistance, and promoting Māori in leadership and governance roles; and
• Promoting Māori business success through strategic relationships, media, and research activity.

The core roles undertaken by the Business Development Directorate of Te Puni Kōkiri were:

• Working with Māori business people, developing relationships across a wide cross section of the commercial world, and with agencies which are working in similar fields, both mainstream and Māori-focused
• Providing information and assistance to business people, and developing the knowledge to assist and influence thinking in the area; and
• Facilitating, brokering and directing people to the right places for business advice and expertise and opportunities.

Te Puni Kōkiri operated within a delivery model over three levels – leadership, enabling and foundation. This model was applied to identify objectives and service requirements, by analysing the opportunities, organisations and business, possible activities and solutions.

In 2006/07, Te Puni Kōkiri has:

• Supported the Federation of Māori Authorities (FoMA) conference for Māori commercial leaders, including presentations and work on agribusiness
• Assisted in developing profiles of Māori businesses, through various publications leading to continued growth of Māori aspirations and role models;
• Worked with FoMA, Māori Trustee and Poutama Trust in developing Tekau Plus to provide a commercial leadership model so that Māori can leverage the significant part they play in the agribusiness sector
• Supported New Zealand Māori Tourism Council (NZMTC) and the infrastructure of Māori Regional Tourism Organisations that it represents;
• Supported the creative sector development through the spearhead of Aniwaniwa, a modern multimedia, uniquely Māori story of the Horahora power station village on the Waikato river that has been showcased internationally at the Venice Biennale
• Worked with Toi Māori to establish a commercial arm to include research into international markets, and global networks
• Worked alongside Poutama Trust to assist Wai Industries to patent their commercially sensitive, world leading health solution for the medical condition Xerostima or Dry Mouth syndrome;
• Contributed towards the development of a world wide portal, Biz.govt.nz containing information, templates on dealing with government agencies, international trade and on growing a business, launched in August 2007; and
• E Tupu - assisted in the development and implementation of practical workshops on farm performance from a governance perspective that were led by winners and advisors from the Ahuwhenua trophy.

Māori Business Facilitation Service (MBFS)

In 2006/07, $1.698m was expensed (compared to a departmental budget of $2.392m) for MBFS, in support of:

• Stakeholder workshops and regional business networks to develop and discuss Māori economic development
• Sponsorship of Māori business awards
• Facilitating of Māori business opportunities
• Maintaining systems, analysis and reporting
• Developing commercial sector networks, strategic relationships and leadership; and
• The Māori tourism infrastructure.

Outputs included:

• 605 registrations (target 700) were received for MBFS assistance. The target was not achieved because fewer registrations were accepted due to stronger filtering processes
• 390 Business Development Plans (target 600) were completed. Because of the decrease in registrations, fewer Business Development plans were received, however the changes to the process has translated to a much higher number of interventions. In total, 300 generic/specialist and sector-specific interventions were intended and 662 were processed;
• 29 (target 40) Māori tourism operators were supported through the Māori Tourism Facilitation component of the business facilitation service
• 22 (target 30) Māori Land Facilitation service clients were supported, although 41 land-blocks had been engaged with
• 5 (target 8) business networks were maintained, however a further four were being developed as at 30 June 2007;
• 2 (target 3) land clusters were developed and supported
• 6 (target 10) regional events that promote Māori business endeavour and opportunity were supported
• 6 (target 6) sector and business networks, hui and development were supported; and
• 5 (target 5) strategic sector events were supported through the NZMTC.

Effective Governance Website

The Effective Governance Website is an information source with reference material on best practice, templates, tools and articles, both Māori specific and generic.

Since its launch the website statistics have shown a steady increase in usage, up by 25% on last year. Recent data indicates 5,038 unique visitors each month entered the site, making 66,740 hits. About a quarter of these visitors re-visited the site within the month.

Most of the visitors are entering via search engines such as Google. Key topics of interest were the case studies and the tools (e.g. templates for letter of appointment), and basic explanatory information. Comment from users has been very positive, and the site compares favourably in usability and usefulness of information with similar sites overseas.

It is intended that the site be further developed, building it over time to have a wider range of information and have information developed for specific types of entities (e.g. marae committees).

Strategic Relationships – Boardwalk

The Boardwalk series was devised as a ‘primer’ series of basic information to assist those who are in governance roles or who are potential candidates for governance roles. While there is some focus on Māori considering roles on government boards, it is applicable to boards of different types – whether they are ahu whenua trusts, marae committees, or company, government and school boards.

The Boardwalk series fits with the information provided on the website. While the website has the capacity to expand in many directions, the Boardwalk publications are intended to be mini-guides, very practical in nature and summaries of the core issues and practices of governance.

Te Puni Kōkiri distributed the first two publications in the series, “Being on a Board” and “Chairing a Board” in October 2006. To date 15,000 copies have been distributed to all Marae, iwi organizations, and through networks such as FoMA, Poutama Trust, Māori Trust Office, Māori Business networks, and through Te Puni Kōkiri regional offices.

The next two publications in the series are on communications with stakeholders and the decision-making process. These are expected to be distributed later in 2007.

Financial Performance

(figures are GST exclusive)

30/06/06 Actual $000		30/06/07 Actual $000	30/06/07 Supp Estimates $000	30/06/07 Main Estimates $000
10,756	Revenue Crown	12,393	12,393	14,317
382	Other Revenue	24	243	9
11,138	Total Revenue	12,417	12,636	14,326
11,063	Total Expenses	11,858	12,636	14,326
75	Net surplus/(deficit)	559	0	0