Tino Rangatiratanga – How to Create a Local Economy
How to earn a living.
Tino rangatiratanga means control over ones life, and in the economy this means ensuring resources are available to live and to thrive.
While there are many different ways to earn a living in today’s complex economy, many are vulnerable to outside decisions, such as a multinational corporate decision to close a local freezerwork or sawmill. Better to plan a local economy that is self-supporting.
Begin with local food
Good food is expensive in NZ. Why, given the mild climate, plenty of water and sunshine and good soil? Set a target of 90% local food. Fresh food is healthier and tastes better.
In the photo above, Chef Charles Royal prepares a gourmet meal after foraging on Waiheke Island and the Hauraki Gulf.
Make things
Traditionally, a kainga had a whare whaihanga for carving and another for weaving. In today’s economy, production of commodity products can’t complete with Chinese factories, but the market for handmade products attracts a premium. Use local timber to make furniture. Expand weaving to household textiles: rugs, blankets, wall coverings.
If it is too hard initially to build proper whare whaihanga (workshops), consider a 12m diameter marquee with tensioned fabric walls and roof. Such units cost about $20,000 and go up in a day. If you need security, get a shipping container for storage. The main thing is to erect workplaces to make things.
Capitalise strengths
In the photo above, a typical marae – whare nui, whare kai, urupa and a large empty paddock. It was not always like this. That empty paddock with the sheep held wharepuni – a complete operating kainga.
As we listened to the whanau’s brainstorming businesses they could set up to bring the young people back home, the focus was on the highway to the right.
But as the old people talked about rites of passage – such as the first time they were entrusted with ferrying sheep across the river in a waka made from a single log – it became clear their front door was the river – Te Wanganui – not the highway.
What if the whanau moved back home, turning the paddock back into te kainga, and then added visitor facilities along the river? Talk with whanau and hapu up and down the river about building traditional river waka and offering tours from headwaters to the sea, stopping at kainga along the way.
Time to start planning
