Tangata Moana Pay Equity Project Update

Reflecting on our roots reminds us that this kaupapa is about more than addressing hunger—it’s about transforming the systems that shape our lives. Food security is deeply tied to equity, and for Tangata Moana, that means confronting the realities of pay inequity in the very food system they help sustain.

Pasifika people experience food insecurity at higher rates than any other group in Aotearoa. At the same time, many are employed across the food system—often in low-wage roles. This project seeks to understand and disrupt that imbalance by naming the structures that create it, and imagining new ones that allow all our communities to thrive.

In recent months, our Pou Pasifika, Philippa Holmes, has been carrying this kaupapa with care—connecting with Pacific leaders, workers, and thinkers across Tāmaki Makaurau, and helping shape a grounded and collective path forward.

This season of the project has included exploring tools like the Great Employer Matrix (GEM), which supports individual up-skilling. It has reminded us of the importance of asking not just how people can fit into systems, but how systems can change to reflect Indigenous and Pasifika values of wellbeing, collective uplift, and accountability.

We’ve been diving deep into the wisdom of Tangata Moana food systems—from seed to table to hauora—and looking at how these knowledge systems might guide transformation not just in health, but across the food industry and employment practices. We're also exploring international Indigenous pay equity models, learning from others who are holding similar questions across the globe.

As part of this journey, we're beginning to tell the story of Pasifika migration through the lens of food and work—how a single factory wage once sustained a whole family, and how that story has shifted over time. We hope to share this story visually, through images and voices from our community.

Looking ahead, we are establishing an advisory group to hold this work with us, ensuring it is robust, respectful, and rooted in community. Philippa will continue to host Talanoa with Pasifika leadership, and begin early conversations with food producers to invite them into this important kōrero.

This kaupapa is a call to see the whole system and to dream together. We are excited by the momentum and humbled by the wisdom being shared. This is about restoring dignity, growing equity, and ensuring that Tangata Moana can not only feed the nation—but thrive within it.