Māori Development Minister Nanaia Mahuta says a lot of support work needs to be done to support a Māori procurement scheme.
The Māori Party is campaigning on a proposal for 25 percent of government project spending go through Māori firms.
Ms Mahuta says the experience of the Australian indigenous procurement scheme, which set a 3 percent target, and initiatives in south and west Auckland show it is necessary to grow a Māori enterprise ecosystem.
“It’s one thing having a target but meeting the target, you’ve got to have the businesses able to take up the procurement opportunities that will be created and that’s the situation we are in. If you look at the Māori SME sector by region, not everybody is in infrastructure, not everybody is in technology, not everybody is in construction, so we are spread out thinly across a range of sectors,” she says.
Nanaia Mahuta says the money that will flow to Māori through opening up procurement to more diversity is money that is already in the system rather than finding new money, and it will also boost Māori skills training and apprenticeships.
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