Matthew Tukaki

Matthew Tukaki (born 10 August 1974 Upper Hutt, New Zealand) is a New Zealand-born Australian businessman. Tukaki is best known as the former Head of Drake International,^[1] one of the world's oldest employment companies and latterly as the founder of Entrehub, formally Co-Founder of the Sustain Group, formerly a Director of the Board of Australia's Indigenous Chamber of Commerce and a current member of Australia's peak mental health body, Suicide Prevention Australia. He has been Chair of Deakin Universities Centre for Social and Responsible Organisations since 2012, Chair of the International Advisory Board of the joint initiative between the United States National Science Foundation and the University of Sydney (BESERG) and Founder of the global entrepreneurs movement, EntreHub. He is a best selling author of more than ten eBooks ranging from social media engagement, sustainability and entrepreneurship to raising capital and crowd funding. In 2014 Tukaki was appointed a member of the World Class New Zealand Network that seeks to promote New Zealand, its business and its culture around the world. In 2015 Tukaki was appointed as Chairman of Australia's National Coalition for Suicide Prevention and has been a Non-Executive Director of the Board of that countries peak mental health body, Suicide Prevention Australia. Tukaki remains a member of a number of public and public sector boards.

Tukaki is of Ngai Te Rangi descent and has strong tribal affiliations with Matakana Island which is off the coast of the city of Tauranga in New Zealand's Bay of Plenty. Tukaki attended the prestigious St Patricks College Silverstream (88-92) in Wellington, New Zealand.

The United Nations Global Compact

Matthew Tukaki was the United Nations Global Compact's Australian Representative from 2010 until 2013. In 2012 he led Australia's business delegation to the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (also known as Rio+20). In May 2013 he was officially appointed by United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon, as an ex officio Director of the Board of the United Nations Global Compact. In that same month he was also elected as the Chairperson of the United Nations Global Compact's Local Network Advisory Group; he retired from these roles in November 2013. He was the first person to be elected as Australian Representative and the first person to be appointed by the Secretary General in the role of LN Representative on the Governing Board of the UNGC. He was also the first Australian / New Zealander and the first person of Maori descent.

Tukaki has been active in his support for business and industry to play a larger role when it comes to sustainable development and the United Nations Post 2015 Agenda. In an interview with Radio New Zealand in September 2013, Tukaki also indicated a strong desire for business to play a primary role in developing technological advances as a way to solve some of the "big challenges of our time". Tukaki retired from his role as Australian Representative to the United Nations Global Compact in November 2013.

In 2014 (in his published memoir) Vice Chair of the United Nations Global Compact and former Chairman of Royal Dutch Shell, Sir Mark Moody-Stuart, recognised Tukaki's work and leadership during the reform process after he was elected as Chairman of the Local Networks Advisory Group. The significance of the reform agenda led to a range of new initiatives being developed such as a new collaborative fundraising framework, deeper engagement with transnational and multinational corporations and a frontier fund to help United Nations Global Compact Networks with material and financial support.

In February 2014 Tukaki announced the formation of a new global initiative to be known as EntreHub. The organisation was formed to support budding entrepreneurs with a target of having 100,000 people involved in the conversation by the end of 2014. EntreHub announced in January 2015 that there were now more than 50,000 members located across 130 countries.

Other activities

Tukaki has been heavily associated with business and anti-corruption telling Radio Australia in 2012 that "There is this false understanding that in order to win a contract in a foreign country, particularly in Asia and the subcontinent, or to do business, you somehow have to pay a bribe," .^[2] He is well known for his work when it comes to change management in both the private and public sector as well as his view around the connection between sustainable development, business and industry.

Tukaki and his role in Suicide Prevention and Mental Health:After joining the Board of Suicide Prevention Australia in 2010, Tukaki played an active role in the restructuring of the organisation as it developed a new strategy to halve suicide in Australia within a decade. He chaired the initial meetings that led to the formation of Australia's first coalition to undertake that task and has Chaired the annual Life Awards since 2010 that acknowledge the contribution of individuals and organisations in the community who are actively working towards reducing stigma, providing support and prevention projects. In June 2014 he told Australia's Channel 9"Its tough out there for so many in the community and we need to take stock of whether or not we are doing all we can to support not just young people but also our older population, those in rural and remote communities because unless we start having these conversations the black dog (referring to depression) will always chase us around the room." In 2015 Tukaki was appointed as Chairman of Australia's National Coalition for Suicide Prevention.

Employment and the Global Financial Crisis: At the height of the Global Financial Crisis Tukaki was cautious in his assessment of what the impacts would be on jobs and employment, particularly in Australia. In 2010 he told the Sydney Morning Herald that employers were more concerned about skill shortages in some professions and that the "usual December slowdown had failed to arrive".^[3] This was different to a year earlier where he had told an online news service "The significance of underemployment is still not statistically understood and is usually where an employee may have moved from permanent work to casual or part-time work, with many moving to two part-time jobs on less salary than the previous full-time job."^[4] Throughout 2010 and into 2011 the cautious approach of looking at where jobs were being created and the changing dynamic of the labour market led Tukaki to become known as one of the most influential employment figures in the region.

Software Business Patents dispute: In 2003 Tukaki courted controversy, and widespread support, when he joined with Senator John Tierney in what was described as a battle of commonsense ^[5][6] with American company, DE Technologies. Tukaki and Senator Tierney challenged the patent holder to show cause and credibility of why they were targeting Australian companies for a percentage of the transaction value of payments made over the internet. The dispute was later resolved and is recognised as being a turning point in how software method patents are dealt with. As a result, no Australian companies or organisations were impacted by the enforcement of the patents under question.

References