Maori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples is pleased with Wednesday's Maori economic hui, even though it came up with few immediate measures to respond to the world recession.
Dr Sharples, who called the hui ahead of next month's employment summit in Auckland, says it came up with a number of good ideas that he's confident will figure prominently at the summit.
Suggestions from the hui include a greater focus on training and literacy and closer collaboration between Maori economic organisations.
Radio New Zealand political editor Brent Edwards reports that
as a specific measure to help firms retain staff the hui also suggested small firms be able to defer their provisional tax payments for three years.
But in the main, he says, the hui focused on long-term issues.
Ngati Kahungunu chairman Ngahiwi Tomoana says participants are keen to continue working with Dr Sharples. If Maori can come up with good ideas, he says, then there's no better person to sell them to the Government and the country.
One idea: governmment loans to Maori businesses
Dr Sharples, who is to chair a Maori Affairs ministerial taskforce on the economy, has also raised the prospect of government loans to Maori businesses, as a way of fighting the economic crisis.
Floating the idea in advance of the summit, he admitted he had not yet run the idea past the Government's finance and economy ministers.
Labour Maori Affairs spokesperson Parekura Horomia says loans by themselves are not enough and the summit must focus on keeping Maori in the workforce.
