When Labour unveiled the New Zealand Future Fund (NZFF), it sold the idea as a promise to “build wealth made in New Zealand, for New Zealand.” Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds called it “a future built on Kiwi ingenuity.” But as Māori economist Professor Matthew Roskruge (Te Āti Awa, Ngāti Tama) sees it, the policy will succeed or fail on one thing, how deeply Māori are written into its design.
“If Labour gets this right, it’s another tool to lift Māori wealth and participation,” says Roskruge. “But if they don’t, it’ll be consultation without control and we’ve seen enough of that.”
The NZFF will be Crown owned, governed by the Guardians of the Super Fund, with the Finance Minister as sole shareholder. To Roskruge, that structure keeps Māori outside the decision room. “Governments love the word consultation, but what we need is co-determination,” he said. “Māori must sit at the table, not as advisers but as decision-makers.”
He believes the answer lies in co-governance: a Māori Economic Council empowered to co-manage the fund and apply kaupapa principles: whakapapa, manaakitanga, kaitiakitanga, to every investment. That would embed Te Tiriti values into the machinery of capital rather than treat them as an afterthought.
Edmonds has said the Fund will be seeded with Crown-owned assets “that will remain in public ownership for generations.” For Roskruge, that must come with Te Tiriti protections.
“Exclude any asset under claim or negotiation,” he warned. “If you use taonga to leverage debt, you’re borrowing against Māori rights.”
He suggests a Māori due-diligence team vet each asset before transfer to prevent breaches of historic or future settlements. Without that filter, he says, the Fund could spark the same legal and political battles that have dogged Crown commercialisation for decades.
Māori enterprises (excluding Māori authorities) in 2021, the innovation rate was 58 %, compared to 46 % for all NZ businesses. Often these smaller and community-based could access a Fund geared toward “innovative, high-growth” firms. Roskruge says this is where many good ideas die.
“These funds always chase big, simple, high-return projects,” he said. “They’re not built for papakāinga, marae energy, or whānau micro-ventures, but that’s where our real resilience is.”
He recommends ring-fencing part of the NZFF as a Māori impact fund, a smaller, regional tier run by iwi or Māori institutions that can invest directly at community level. It would be the difference between a national balance sheet and a whānau pantry.
Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said the NZFF would deliver both financial and social returns. Roskruge believes Māori models like Whānau Ora already show how to do this.
“Make social return a line item, not a press release,” he said. “Report on ora, hauora, whanaungatanga, whenua stability, alongside financial profit.”
Annual GDP growth rates varied significantly between 2017 and 2023, including high growth before the pandemic (e.g. 3.5% in Mar-19 year) and large swings during the COVID-19 period. For the calendar year 2023, the growth rate was 0.73%. For the year ended June 2023, annual GDP growth was $4 %$. The overall annual average growth for the 2018-2023 period (years ended Dec) would be less than $2-3 \%$ due to the pandemic impact and later slowdown. Roskruge argues the Fund could change that if it targets Māori wellbeing as an economic indicator, not a social add-on.
Edmonds framed the Fund as investing in “resilient infrastructure.” For Roskruge, that phrase has to mean more than roads and data cables. “Resilience is housing that keeps whānau together, health services that don’t need a two-hour drive, and digital access that connects rural Māori to markets,” he said.
He wants explicit regional clauses to ensure investment reaches Māori rohe, not just urban centres already flush with infrastructure.
Hipkins promised “good, well-paid jobs.” Roskruge takes that further:
“It’s not a win if Māori labour builds the asset but never shares in the profit.”
He wants Labour to extend its procurement policy requiring five percent of government contracts go to Māori businesses to at least ten percent for NZFF projects. He also supports employee shareholding schemes so workers gain equity in the assets they create.
“That’s how you turn a job into mana motuhake ownership, not just employment.”
Labour has said the Fund can “co-invest alongside iwi and innovative Māori businesses.” Roskruge calls this the most promising aspect – if it’s done right.
“Too often, Māori money enters a Crown fund and never comes back,” he said. “Tikanga-based governance can fix that, make sure Māori capital stays in Māori hands and circulates within our economy.”
With the Māori asset base already contributing $23 billion a year to GDP, Roskruge argues the NZFF could double that if it channels co-investment through iwi rather than around them.
When asked how the NZFF compares to the Coalition Government’s Growth Agenda, Roskruge did not mince words:
“We’ll get a better result than we’re getting now absolutely. The current model is extractive and short-term.”
The Coalition’s Fast-Track Bill lets Ministers override consent processes, weakens environmental safeguards, and rolls back Te Tiriti references across policy. Net Core Crown Debt now sits at 42 percent of GDP ($182 billion), while GDP fell 0.5 percent last year – proof, he says, that their model is “speed without stability.”
“The Future Fund is not a silver bullet,” Roskruge added, “but it’s a better framework for shared growth. It just needs the courage to share power.”
From a whakapapa Māori lens, Roskruge sees the NZFF as a bridge between Crown capital and collective sovereignty a tool that could embed mana motuhake into the national balance sheet. Its value won’t be measured in billions alone but in how much mana is retained and how many whānau tables it fills.
As Roskruge puts it, “Use the Crown’s tools when they serve us, build our own when they don’t and never forget who the future is for.”
