June 03, 2015
Maori urged to take wing
A Hamilton flight safety officer says the government should do more to encourage Maori to look at aviation careers.
Rocky Rua from flight training organisation CTC Aviation has just won the industry’s prestigious Michael J Neville/Boeing Airplane Company Award, which encourages further study.
He has just completed a Master of Business Administration in indigenous management at the University of Waikato, where his dissertation focussed how to increase Maori participation in flight training.
He says when measured against the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi, the government is failing to turn words into actions.
"There was policy which stated and enabled Maori representation in aviation but there were limitations within those policies," he says.
Rocky Rua says people interested in flying careers can learn by paying their way through lessons at aviation clubs, or they can get student loans to do courses like those CTC offers.
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