Annual Review Debate — Māori, Other Populations and Cultural Sector

Nuk Korako. It is necessary to say some words, as well as nod.

Kia ora. I was just rising to my feet and waiting for you to finish. Tēnā koe. Huri noa i Te Whare nei, e mihi atu ki a koutou katoa.

I am happy to lead the debate on the annual reviews for the Māori, other populations, and cultural sector. As chair of the Māori Affairs Committee I want to focus my contribution on the Māori development portfolio, and specifically those annual reviews undertaken by the Māori Affairs Committee.

We carried out annual reviews of Te Puni Kōkiri, Te Reo Whakapuaki Irirangi, and Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori. When it comes to Te Puni Kōkiri, this is a ministry that is doing well, and we have seen further progress on its restructuring and better results around the use of contractors last year. I do want to note that I think there is more that can be done to promote the development of the Māori economy.

In carrying out the annual review of Te Puni Kōkiri, it is very clear that this is an agency that is very comfortable, and for the most part does a very good job, with its role in promoting Māori culture, education, and health. What would be good, though, to see in the future is a greater focus and greater drive applied to the ministry’s responsibilities for promoting growth in the Māori economy.

The other agencies we reviewed came before the committee against the backdrop of Te Ture mō Te Reo Māori / the Māori Language Act. Te Reo Whakapuaki Irirangi, or Te Māngai Pāho, as it is better known, is anticipating a role in developing Maihi Karauna, the Crown’s Māori language strategy, under the Māori Language Act. We were impressed by the agency’s readiness to work under the new legislation and to work positively to influence how the broadcasting sector responds to this strategy.

There were several other areas for which the agency deserves real recognition. One is the way that it is looking towards the future of radio, which is in the digital sphere, and pushing iwi radio stations to embrace technical technology and the change that comes with it. I was also particularly impressed with how focused the agency is on increasing the normalisation of Te Reo Māori in everyday life. For example, it rejected the suggestion that a quota for Māori language content should be imposed on radio, and instead reiterated its focus on increasing normalisation of Te Reo Māori.

Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori—the Māori Language Commission—also discussed the Māori Language Bill when it appeared before the Māori Affairs Committee. Like Te Māngai Pāho, Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori expressed its readiness for the enactment of the new legislation, and its willingness to change in response to it. There were a number of issues raised in Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori’s review. The chief executive role was vacant for over a year, until last September, and there has been some instability in other staffing, possibly resulting from the vacancy at the top. Last year Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori told us that the appointment of a new chief executive would, hopefully, decrease the staff turnover. It appears that this was the case, and the agency is once again fully staffed.

The new chief executive has also been working on staff morale and the office’s performance and preparing staff for a change under the Māori Language Bill. We also believe that the appointment of a chief executive and the other new staff who have come on board would put Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori on track to rectify some of the deficiencies identified by the Auditor-General. I look forward to seeing continued improvement in these areas when Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori comes to the Māori Affairs Committee next year.

It has been pleasing to see all of these agencies making progress towards their objectives over the year. I commend the hard work that their leaders and staff have been doing. I finish with this whakataukī: He huka mata anō mō te pouka—fortune favours the brave. That is exactly what this is about. Kia ora.

Kia ora, Mr Chair. It is my absolute honour to be the second speaker, after our chair of the Māori Affairs Committee, Nuk Korako, delivered the initial speech—this is a first. Kia ora to the Committee and to all of my colleagues.

Māori well-being is what I would like to focus on. Māori thrive when we are connected to our land, our language, and our people—being our marae, our hapū, our iwi, and/or our communities. So Māori understand this. Well-being, then, for Māori, requires us all to believe that a fairer future is possible—a future that will keep us connected and will reconnect us to those very things that make us who we are and keep us alive. So I want to focus on the Green Party as being a big part of what is possible, because good change is absolutely 100 percent possible.

Now I am going to reflect on why we need change. Too many people are struggling and Māori are overrepresented in those who are struggling, and that includes Māori children. If we look at housing, I came in on a platform of reminding us about the hardship, particularly for Māori women and children, in housing. I have said constantly that I think about friends of mine who are Māori mothers with their children living in the garages of my other friends, living in cars, and struggling to just get by every day. That is simply not good enough. We know that, for example, the number of food parcels being given out to families has increased, and the work of the Salvation Army I completely acknowledge here. But also, again, that is not good enough.

Just in question time today we had the Prime Minister quite gleefully reminding us about how the economy is supposedly growing. So why then have we still got too many tamariki living in poverty, too many of whom are Māori? Why would we ever stop and even say that our economy is growing while these things continue to happen to Māori? So, in my role as spokesperson for Māori development for the Green Party, I absolutely want to stand and remind us that a fairer future is possible, and why that is necessary. It is necessary for me as a Māori woman in Parliament to remember that all of us have a responsibility to make good change.

Māori, as kaitiaki, understand that our hopes and dreams include a cleaner environment that we are having to look after. I welcome the news of my Tai Tokerau colleague Kelvin Davis and his survey in the north of my Tai Tokerau people, where 86 percent oppose deep-sea oil drilling, because Māori also understand that deep-sea oil drilling can never be part of a sustainable economy and can never be part of a just society. So I am pleased, and have always seen, that Māori are capable of leading the way in good change. Thank you.

Although I commend the work of Minister Te Ururoa Flavell and the changes and the positive steps with things like Whānau Ora, unfortunately, the Minister is hampered by a National Government whose economy is not working for everybody. And if an economy is not working for everybody, then it is not working. That is all that can be said about that, so I put it back to this Government.

The solutions are there, and the Green Party has long worked on them. We can build the smartest houses, the best houses. We can have the smartest, cleanest, and most sustainable economy. We can protect our rivers and clean them up for our children to swim in. The Greens have long understood that the solutions and the ideas exist, and we see the ideas and the leadership in the community. In Glen Innes, for 4 years in a row, I have supported river talks, where the community—

The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Trevor Mallard): Order! I am going to interrupt. I have signalled to the member before that she has to stay closer to the debate than she has been.

Fair enough, thank you. So I want to emphasise that when it comes to the well-being for Māori, the Green Party understands what that requires. The Green Party understands the political will and leadership that is required for us to ensure—

Excellent choice, Mr Chair. Thank you very much for allowing me this opportunity to contribute to this debate.

The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Trevor Mallard): I might do it again.

Te Puni Kōkiri, sadly, does not know whether it is Arthur or Martha. Once upon a time, the direction and the leadership for Te Puni Kōkiri was very clear. It knew what its job was—its job was to grow a sustainable Māori economy. Today Te Puni Kōkiri is being asked to be a social services arm. It is being asked to become a Te Reo Māori assessor. It is being asked, also, to continue its work in the economic space. I take the words of the member and the chair of the Māori Affairs Committee, Nuk Korako, who would like to see more of that take place at Te Puni Kōkiri. But, sadly, that is not going to happen under the current leadership. It is not going to happen when you are forcing a traditionally excellently performing ministry, in Te Puni Kōkiri, to do so many other things. It does not know whether or not it is Arthur or Martha.

Te Ture mō Te Reo Māori Act has just come in. The member has spoken about Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori and some of the problems that were faced by Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori around staffing, and, of course, we know that the chief executive position was vacant for some time. However, it got a chief executive and I do understand that it is back to a full complement of staff. But this means nothing when its budget has been slashed to create a new entity, Te Mātāwai.

Although I am all for progressing and revitalising Te Reo Māori—I am a huge Te Reo Māori champion—I do not believe, however, that Te Reo Māori is going to reach the pinnacles that we hope it will. Why I say that is because there is a lack of leadership on this matter. We have talked about a Maihi Karauna strategy, or a Crown strategy, and a Te Reo Māori strategy. Well, the legislation does not give the strategy. The Government is yet to work the strategy out. It is prepared to give Te Mātāwai 3 years to see whether or not it will come up with a strategy, and to see whether or not the number of speakers of Te Reo Māori will lift or continue to decrease, as trends have shown.

Our research has shown that in that 3 years the number of conversational Māori speakers will drop by 1 percent, falling to a very critical level of just under 20 percent. We know that in order for Te Reo Māori to grow and to thrive, you need a critical mass speaking Te Reo Māori. Experts in the field tell us that that critical mass must be at 35 percent. So why, then, under this Minister for Māori Development and this Government, did we not have that aspiration play out in the set-up of Te Mātāwai and the debate of the bill—that we want to see Te Reo Māori speakers in this country grow to a number of 35 percent? I am afraid there is a lack of leadership on that matter.

Back to Te Puni Kōkiri. I think it is doing a great job. It, just like Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori, has had issues around staffing. And it is not just any old staff member; it has had vacancies in the leadership group of Te Puni Kōkiri—in key positions to lead and drive Te Puni Kōkiri. The ministry told the Māori Affairs Committee that it will work hard to fill those, and I understand that it has made some progress there. But if it has made progress there, then why is it that in the past financial year Te Puni Kōkiri has spent $8 million on consultants—$8 million on consultants—to carry out the work of Te Puni Kōkiri instead of focusing on filling those key leadership roles to provide leadership from this Government and the Minister to Te Puni Kōkiri to allow it to do its work correctly? All of this $8 million to consultants—we have raised several times since the last election this issue about the excess being spent on consultants. And what are they giving? What are they providing? Well, we would argue, on this side of the Chamber, that what they are actually providing, in many instances, is flawed advice. I say that with respect to Te Ture Whenua Māori Bill.

I want to mention Te Ture Whenua Māori Bill because all of the advice given to the Minister has just allowed him to fool himself into thinking he can bulldoze this piece of legislation through the Parliament and that he can force it on to the people, despite the people being very clear to this Minister and to this Government that what they are proposing is wrong and that what they are proposing is actually going to further alienate Māori land. That is not acceptable. I am on a trust that administers a large amount of Māori land, and we have looked through the bill that is to be proposed by the Minister, and we too have very strong concerns about the intention of the bill. Why do we not listen to the experts? Why do we not listen to those who actually work with the bill every day—organisations like the Māori Land Court, people like the judges in the Māori Land Court, and people like the lawyers who have forged careers in this space? Why do we not listen to them?

Well, I can tell you that this Minister and this Government are not listening to them. Instead, what they gone and done is said: “Let’s have hui across the country. Let’s just go through a box-ticking exercise. We’ll engage with the Māori people on Te Ture Whenua Māori Bill, but, I’ll tell you what, let’s meet at the Langham Hotel.”—that must be the flashest marae I have ever seen, the Langham Hotel—“I know another place where we can meet. Let us meet in a bunker at an airport in the hope that we can have meaningful consultation with the Māori people around Te Ture Whenua Māori Bill. Once that is all done, and we have ticked all the boxes, we are now going to say that the Māori people agree.”

I beg to differ. That is not the view of our people with regard to Te Ture Whenua Māori Bill. Sure, they want to be able to feel empowered to make decisions for themselves. Sure, they want to be able to manage their land to make sure that they receive benefits from it. But it works only if you go through a solid process—a solid process—that will create a foundation for that to happen and create a foundation to empower our people, the Māori people, to make meaningful contributions to the economy, to seek self-determining means by way of building their own value and their own assets. But what the exercise of Te Ture Whenua Māori Bill has actually proven to members on this side of the Chamber, and, of course, to the rest of the country, is this Government’s overall failure to make sure that you go through due process.

We have sat in this House many times now explaining to many iwi who come here to settle their Treaty grievances—and we look them in the eye and we say to them—“Kia kaha. This is full, this is fair, and this is final.” Yet what we are seeing now is all of a sudden there is a flip-flop from this Government, which says: “Oh, heck. Actually, we may have rushed this through. Maybe we didn’t quite get it right the first time. So let’s revisit it.”

What have we seen? We have seen the right of first refusal on homes and on land in Tāmaki-makau-rau. That is a classic example. What else have we seen? Te Ohu Kaimoana going to court over the Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary. This, after the fisheries settlement in 1992 that said it was full, fair, and final. Now, all of a sudden, because of the decisions made by this Government, Māori are feeling like victims again. Their rights are being taken away from them. Their ability to voice their concerns is being silenced, and what this points to is this Government’s failure to lead properly and to lead correctly on true Māori development. What exactly does that mean? It means allowing Te Puni Kōkiri to do what it is supposed to do.

Also, in conclusion, I want to just briefly mention Whānau Ora. We all agree with Whānau Ora. We want Whānau Ora to work. Recently, we have heard of the tragic case about that young Māori boy called Moko, who passed away through tragic circumstances, through people not caring for our most vulnerable. We want Whānau Ora to get into these houses and to get into these communities to make sure that those people—the most vulnerable in our country—are protected and that those who need the help get the help that they need. However, I do not believe this is happening under Whānau Ora. I do not believe that this Government is showing true leadership on Whānau Ora to make sure that those people, like young Moko, and the families who are dealing with a lot of our most vulnerable get the service and get the help that they require.

It is a privilege to speak in this debate, and I am particularly honoured to speak to Whānau Ora, which the previous speaker, Peeni Henare, referred to. He said he did not know what Whānau Ora is doing. Well, Whānau Ora is touching over 5,000 whānau and families across New Zealand in the 2015 financial year.

I cannot talk for the two Māori commissioning agencies, but I can talk to Pasifika Futures. In Pasifika Futures there were over 2,200 families connected via navigator support. Its focus was on giving families financial independence—giving them financial independence. It reported that of those families that it connected with where they prioritised economic independence, 29 percent of them reduced their debt during that period. So it is helping families get independence. We are helping families into jobs, and we are helping families and their children, their whānau, become independent. Pasifika Futures also engaged with over 200 families in terms of giving small grants projects. Those grants projects were to assist those families with a hand up, not a handout. They are working alongside other agencies to help those whānau become enabled and become more self-reliant.

I want to turn to the Pacific portfolio because as the Minister I am proud of the work that our ministry, the Ministry for Pacific Peoples, has done over the last year. I am proud because Pacific New Zealanders have become better educated. Under the National Government, more and more Pacific people are working than at any time in our history, and we know that it starts with education. It starts with early childhood education, where Pacific participation rates are now over 90 percent. The participation rates in early childhood education are over 90 percent, and that is something that we can be proud of. We know it starts young. We know it starts in the families, at home, and we know it starts in our churches. It is done through support by those early childhood education providers—and I have visited a number of Pacific providers in my time as Minister. They are people with good hearts, good intentions, who are providing our kids with not just an early childhood education but language skills in our aoga amata, and they are teaching them Pacific values and Pacific language, culture, and heritage.

I want to talk about the work that the ministry does in terms of the seven Pacific language weeks that are conducted throughout the year. The Samoan Language Week will begin again at the end of May, leading into Samoan Independence Day. Our ministry works alongside community organisations in order not just to promote the language among Pacific people but also to promote Pacific languages to other New Zealanders—non-Pacific people who can enjoy, who can thrive, and learn a Pacific language—because we are a Pacific nation. Aotearoa New Zealand is a Pacific nation. Pacific people contribute to and they are part of the rich social and economic fabric of this nation. The Pacific language weeks are an opportunity for all New Zealanders to enjoy that Pacific language, enjoy the Pacific culture and heritage, and also enjoy Pacific dance, arts and craft, and rich Pacific food, which I am quite partial to.

It starts with early childhood education, and our Well Child before-school check rates are some of the highest in New Zealand. It starts with immunisation rates that are over 90 percent. They are over 90 percent because Pacific health providers and Pacific family and whānau see the value in giving our kids the best start that they can get, not just in early childhood education but also in terms of immunisation and health care and health provision.

We also know that Pacific employment is up. Around 123,500 Pacific people are currently employed in New Zealand today. That is the most in any time in our history. It is a 10 percent increase, year on year, for the year to the end of December 2015, and it is because we have a strong focus on education. This Government has a strong focus on employment. We are about growing our economy, growing jobs, and growing families and supporting families. The best way we can support our families is to give them a job, because all our families are looking to do is to raise their kids in this great country of ours, feed them, clothe them, nurture them, care for them, and love them. The best way they can do that is when they are meaningfully employed. When they are not meaningfully employed, we can support them too because we are the first Government to raise benefits in the last 42 years. We have the compassion to look after those people who cannot look after themselves. But, having said that, we are about promoting Pacific employment.

I am proud that there are more Pacific people now working in this country than ever before. The reason is that we have seen a huge increase in Pacific achievement in education. When National became the Government, our National Certificate in Educational Achievement level 2 rates were around 50 percent. They are now around 75 percent, so we have seen a 50 percent increase in those achievement rates. We have seen the number of Pacific students enrolled in qualifications at Bachelor level or higher. It was about 9,000 in 2008 and it is now well over 13,500. So we have seen another substantial increase in the number of those taking up tertiary level study. We have also seen that course completion rates at all levels are up to 74 percent in 2014.

This is one of the success stories of this National Government—that we have promoted and we have encouraged and we have supported Pacific and Māori people to succeed and achieve. Is our job done? No, there is a long way to go, but what I can say is that we are doing remarkably well under this National Government compared with under the previous Labour Government.

One of the areas that we need to work on—but that is coming down—is the area of “neets”. For those who do not know who “neets” are, it is those who are not in employment, education, or training. One of the more innovative things that this Government has done is support those organisations that support young people into jobs or into training. The Pacific Employment Support Services scheme, which was run under our National Government—over 5 years this programme had just under 1,500 individual Pacific youth who participated in the programme, and the statistics are quite encouraging. Of those 1,400, 709 were placed into employment, with 463 of these achieving sustainable employment—“sustainable employment” is 6 months’ continuous employment—450 were put into training, and 72 percent of those participants achieved an employment or training placement. Those are the types of interventions that this Government has engineered, that this Government has put together, alongside Pacific providers.

We have got a strong Pacific health sector. We have got a strong sector around social services. It is that type of investment, using the investment approach that we do in justice, that we have done in social welfare, and we are doing right across the social services sphere. It is that type of investment where we put in $4.88 million that will result in long-term liability to the Government being reduced by $18.8 million. This is not just about the numbers; it is about people being put into training, being put into jobs, and being better able to support their whānau and families. Ultimately, that is what this National Government stands for. We stand for stronger families, stronger communities, and, ultimately, a stronger nation. Thank you.

I stand to make a brief contribution on the Māori, Other Populations, and Cultural Sector*. I just want to talk about some areas around the Treaty settlements, because since 2008, when this Government came into power, it has dedicated itself to completing as many Treaty settlements as it could, based on the number of iwi who wished to settle with this Government. Currently, we have 86 percent of claimant groups that are now mandated. We have 79 deeds of settlement with iwi, of which 53 have been signed since 2009. The Crown is in settlement work with 60 groups at the moment. We have 10 Treaty bills in the House at the moment, and by 2017 we are looking to have achieved our target of settling with all of those iwi who wish to settle.

I want to talk a little bit about the Māori economy through the He Kai Kei Aku Ringa, which is a group put together by the Minister of Māori Affairs and the Minister for Economic Development in 2011. It is an independent Māori economic development panel and it is tasked with developing Māori economic strategy and an action plan. While it has been pulling together this particular strategy, which was released in 2012—and around about that time the Māori economy was about $36.9 billion. Today, as I stand here, the Māori economy is worth about $40 billion and rising, and it ranges across a number of classes: 40 percent in forestry, 38 percent in fishing quota, 30 percent in land production, 12 percent of beef and sheep units, 10 percent of dairy production, 10 percent of kiwifruit, with further ownership in geothermal, digital services, education, and tourism.

This is a Government that has been doing a lot of work with Māori—with them, for them—and we should be celebrating that in this Committee today. When I start to look at the Māori farming side of things through the Federation of Māori Authorities—known as “FOMA”—we have, as of 30 June 2011, 140 members in that group, with 568,000 sheep, 79,000—nearly 80,000—beef cattle, and about 40,000 dairy cattle. We have forestry plantations. We have iwi who are part of the central North Island, or what they call the “Treelords”, deal. There are so many excellent things that have been happening through the Māori sector that have not been actually celebrated in these annual review debates in this House, and I stand very proud of the work that has been going on.

Let us also have another look at the regional growth programmes. We have regional plans in Tai Tokerau, Northland—they have been released—the Bay of Plenty, East Coast, Gisborne, and Hawke’s Bay, Manawatū, Whanganui, and the West Coast. We have digital platforms, ultra-fast broadband, the Rural Broadband Initiative, and infrastructure through Māori through the Mātihetihe Marae in Mitimiti in Northland. There is the Māori Information and Communications Development Fund and the digital literacy initiatives. We have education success happening for our Māori people in this country, and it has all been because of the policies that have been going on with the National Government.

As I stand here, again I want to say that we have a $4 million innovation fund. It is an investment for Māori innovation and Māori-led science and innovation. This fund invests in programmes because we want to see our Māori kids picking up science and technology like any other child in this country. We have it innate and inborn in us. I am a science student myself. I have got a science degree. It is all part and parcel of who we are. It comes naturally. Biological science, physics, chemistry—you name it, we are there. So some of that fund is going into some indigenous innovation around the environment, health, and also mātauranga—exploring indigenous knowledge.

I am pleased to stand here. Again, I am pleased to stand here and talk and raise the roof off this Chamber, because what we are doing for Māori has been much more than what the previous Government ever did for Māori. Thank you very much.

It is my pleasure to participate in this debate on behalf of New Zealand First and to talk about the Ministry of Māori Development. Can I say that I must be living in a different world in Whangarei and in Tai Tokerau because, as Māori, we feature highest on the social indices. Unemployment is the highest in terms of Māori. Economic development, although it is making some headway, still has got a long way to go. The other most important social thing is housing.

I can recall an era when the Department of Māori Affairs used to provide 200 homes where families actually moved in and owned the home. What are the figures that are available in terms of homeownership for Māori today? Can I say that it is not very high. Look, if we are wanting to look at the social plight of Māori, all we need to do is walk up Lambton Quay and see the number of people begging. I am quite ashamed to say this: many of them are Māori. In the north, although we have not got to the stage of begging because those of my relatives who live at home are able to live off the land, at the end of the day many of them do not have access to the proper house services, they do not have access to good housing, they do not have access to employment—and so it all goes on.

Can I suggest that one of the reasons for this is that Te Puni Kōkiri is not doing its job. Last year it underspent its allocation by $1.7 million, and that just follows a number of years when it has underspent. I think that it is criminal that a public department like Te Puni Kōkiri should underspend its allocation when the needs of the people whom it is supposed to be serving are still as strong as if it was the last century.

One of the other things that we heard during the select committee review was that there was a restructuring, that over a lengthy period it had 30 vacancies, and that as a result of the restructuring it now has 11 vacancies. It is quite easy: if you just remove positions, then of course you can reduce the number of vacancies that you have. The other thing is that we have heard the discussion about the amount of money that was used for consultants. Can I suggest to you that many of those consultants became consultants as a result of restructuring not only in the last financial year but in previous years, and all those ex-staff members are laughing all the way to the bank. I think it is a poor commentary that the annual vote for Te Puni Kōkiri should be remitted to consultants rather than on the work that it is supposed to be doing.

I can recall that in the days of the former Ministry of Māori Affairs, the staff, without exception, lived in and were much closer to the community they served. Although I congratulate Te Puni Kōkiri on the academic level of achievement of the present staff, I would suggest to you that many of them do not have the life experiences that former staff used to have. I would suggest that that is part of the reason. If we look at Whānau Ora, they talked about how successful it is and yet they still need another year before they can quite accurately comment on how successful Whānau Ora is.

Another issue for me is the issue of Māori wardens. We know that the Māori wardens are one of the few groups that actually work out amongst our community and are aware of the challenges facing our people, yet the allocation that was made to that particular programme has been underspent. [Bell rung] Mr Chairman.

The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch): I am happy to give the member another call, but can I just remind the member and your party that you have only two calls left in the balance of the debate. If you take another call now, you will have only one call left, so I just bring that to your attention.

Thank you. I will forgo it.

Tēnā koe, Mr Chair. May I take this opportunity to acknowledge a legend. New Zealand has claimed him, but he is originally from the Kingdom of Tonga. Bill Sevesi, who is a musical legend, passed away, and we laid him to rest a few days ago.

My comments today are going to be focused on the Ministry for Pacific Peoples. This ministry has an important role to play, and the Minister for Pacific Peoples earlier on in his comments spoke extensively about how we have improved educational outcomes, especially for early childhood education. When we are talking about participation, the Minister stated that we now have a 90 percent participation rate for kids. That is actually a wonderful statistic. However, what about the quality of the kind of experience that our children are having in those early childhood education centres?

What the Education Review Office has told us in its report is that over 50 percent of these early childhood education centres are not, unfortunately, currently providing services that are of great quality, which is a big issue for me, particularly for those of our kids out in South Auckland. When we read in the New Zealand Herald today that under this current Government the money that has been invested in early childhood education has been tripled to $1.5 billion, one just has to question whether that investment in early childhood education is actually really monitored and whether we are getting the best investment out of our taxpayers’ funds.

When we look at the priorities that the Ministry for Pacific Peoples has, it has education, employment, entrepreneurship, and improved living conditions, including housing. I would like to focus on that last point. Are Pacific people in Aotearoa New Zealand today experiencing improved living conditions, especially when we are talking about housing? I have got to say that from where I sit, and from where the people whom I serve in South Auckland sit, the answer to that is absolutely not. We are seeing so many people come through our offices not even having a house that they can live in with their children.

Just last night I went around with a couple of people. We went because we had been informed by other folks in our community in Manukau East that there are so many more people now living in cars, and we wanted to see for ourselves these locations, whether it is indeed true that there are so many people now living in cars. I am sad to say that we did see just this. There are so many families out there living in cars. Some of them are Pacific and some of them are Māori, but I was actually surprised to see that some of these people are Pākehā—Pākehā who have full-time jobs; Pākehā who have a degree—and they are living in cars.

To get back to the Ministry for Pacific Peoples, can I also acknowledge another person who, unfortunately, has just passed away. The Chief Executive Officer of the Pacific Business Trust, Mr Rob Neru, passed away just a couple of weeks ago—very untimely, at 46 years of age. I saw Mr Neru here in Parliament just 1½ weeks before his untimely death, and one of the conversations that we had was focused around what we should do in terms of policies to ensure that our young Pacific people are equipped, that they are skilled, and that they do have the correct training now.

When the report that the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research gave us a few months ago projected that here in Aotearoa New Zealand we are going to lose 46 percent of all of the current jobs that we have, we had this discussion. One of the things that Mr Neru said to me was that it is really, really important, particularly for Pacific people, who are featuring too highly in the unemployment statistics and who are featuring too high in not actually getting trained, that we ensure that they are getting skilled and they are getting trained now, so that they do not miss out even more in the future. I would just like to acknowledge Mr Neru this afternoon.

The Pacific Business Trust is a not-for-profit organisation that was established in 1985. It was set up to provide economic development services for Pacific businesses and for Pacific people here in New Zealand. But I would like to ask this of the Minister for Pacific Peoples: why is it that this Pacific Business Trust, a lifeline for Pacific communities, is being ripped apart and sold off without—

Reports noted.

Primary Sector