Landmark report highlights transformative potential of Māori economies

Māori economies offer powerful leadership, values and practices that can seed a more just, regenerative economic future for all - one grounded in care for people, place, and future generations.

“WEAll Aotearoa is proud to launch this new report that amplifies the leadership we see in Māori economic approaches, and which provides a positive, values-led alternative to the current, broken business-as-usual,” says Gareth Hughes WEAll Aotearoa Director.

“We believe vibrant Māori values-led economies at scale would enable all people, and the natural world, to thrive.”

The report, titled Amplifying Māori approaches: the transformative potential of Māori economies was authored by Matthew Scobie (Kāi Tahu), with co-authors Tayla Forward (Ngāpuhi), Georgia McLellan (Whakatōhea & Ngāi Te Rangi), Jack Barrett (Ngāpuhi) and Danielle Webb (Ngāpuhi).

It highlights the significant contribution of the Māori economy; $32 billion to Aotearoa’s GDP in 2018, with assets reaching $126 billion by 2023. Yet, alongside these achievements, the report also identifies deep-rooted structural barriers that must be dismantled to unlock the full potential of a Māori values-led economy.

The report arrives at a critical moment. “At a time of deepening inequality and environmental crisis,” says lead author, Matthew Scobie, “this report highlights Māori economic practices as compelling alternatives to the dominant economic model: practices guided by principles such as whakapapa (kinship), tauutuutu (reciprocity), kaitiakitanga (guardianship), and mana.”

As co-author Tayla Forward explains, “Right now, Māori organisations face systematic penalties when pursuing economic practices as an expression of mana motuhake, rather than to accumulate private wealth. The result is often limited scale or a hybrid approach—an indirect path to mana as a strategic response to market constraints. But if we change the constraints, we make different strategies available.”

“Despite these headwinds, Māori economic practices continue to gather momentum, defying the dominant economic system.”

Scobie frames the report as “a call for bold, systems-level change”. He explains: “It lays out a roadmap for enabling Māori economies to thrive on their own terms, including recommendations for how the Crown can support mana-optimising approaches.”

Ms Forward adds: “Constitutional transformation will bring about economic transformation. Constitutional transformation also demands economic transformation. These are projects that we must advance in tandem - they will not succeed if approached independently of one another”

She continues, “Indigenous Peoples create their own histories, though not always under conditions of their own choosing. Article Two of Te Tiriti affirms tino rangatiratanga over whenua, kāinga and taonga, which should be understood as including the authority to determine economic arrangements according to Māori values and priorities. And yet, the Crown circumscribes the market parameters within which firms, households, and Māori communities must operate.”

Ultimately, constitutional transformation would benefit all people living in Aotearoa. “It’s not a zero-sum game between kāwanatanga and rangatiratanga. Both can be built together, for the good of all,” Scobie says.

“A hollowed-out, hands-off Crown lacks the necessary power, scope, and vision to act as a meaningful Tiriti partner” Forward adds.

The vision is clear: a Tiriti-affirming future economy grounded in care—for all people, for whenua, and for generations yet to come.