August 09, 2023
Māori shut out in home city match
A Māori contributor to a new report that compared Auckland to nine similar cities – says there is good news and bad news from an indigenous perspective.
The report by UK-based urban intelligence firm The Business of Cities found Auckland outperforms many peer cities for its easy-going lifestyle, natural environment and visitor experiences but it falls short on infrastructure, housing affordability, crime, safety, and attracting innovation and investment.
Anthony Ruakere from consultants Deloitte says pay gaps for Maori and Pasifika are less severe than for indigenous residents of the nine peer cities, but there is also a lower percentage in employment.
He says home ownership was worse than he expected.
“Maori have a homeownership rate of 18 percent relative to 32percent (for indigenous) across the other peer cities. So, again that’s quite a stark reality – and it was a much bigger gap than I thought existed,” Mr Ruakere says.
Auckland was compared to Brisbane, Tel Aviv, Austin, Vancouver, Portland, Copenhagen, Dublin, Fukuoka and Helsinki.