Speaking at the recent launch, Mr Derek Gill, Principal Economist for NZIER, and a Senior Associate at Victoria University’s Institute for Governance and Policy Studies, commended Te Puni Kōkiri for undertaking real research.

“Most policy is faith based, reflecting fashions or conventional wisdoms, rather than being evidence based.

“Measuring matters. If agencies are not measuring performance for Māori, one suspects it’s not being managed.”

Fellow guest panellist, Dr Te Kani Kingi, Director of the Academy for Māori Research and Scholarship at Massey University agreed and emphasised that measures of performance need to be comprehensive, robust, and include cultural domains.

“Cultural perspectives may significantly influence what is important in terms of a positive outcome. This research goes a long way to recognising this fact and how cultural constructs can significantly inform performance and measurement systems.”