Annual Review Debate — Māori, Other Populations and Cultural Sector

Tēnā koe, e Te Kaiwhakahaere. I rise to speak on this appropriations debate for the Māori, other populations and cultural sector. I rise to speak also as the chair of the Māori Affairs Committee. A big part of our work on the Māori Affairs Committee in the last year has been Te Ture Whenua Māori Bill. This bill will unlock the incredible economic potential of the land and assets that Māori already own. It is also a bill that will continue to protect—and give more protection, actually—for Māori ownership.

The Government has also been pushing ahead—

The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Trevor Mallard): Order! I am just going to warn the member now that that is one bit of legislation you cannot talk about, because it is a matter that is sitting on the Order Paper for further discussion. So, just to remind the member, the review is about the year to 30 June and the current operations of the agencies, not the committee.

Kia ora, Mr Chairman. So, just moving then to a bill that was passed earlier, which really did reflect some very, very unique legislation. This is the Te Awa Tupua (Whanganui River Claims Settlement) Bill—the bill giving effect to the Whanganui River settlement. This one is truly groundbreaking. When you look at this particular legislation, it actually bestowed on the river the legal status of a person, allowing this to put in place all the structures and safeguards that will protect and manage the river, with oversight from the iwi.

Also, when looking at all of this, the other part that we looked at a lot, through various legislation, was what does actually benefit families, particularly in terms of the opportunities to get ahead. One of the big things was around education. For too long Māori have been achieving at a lower rate than non-Māori. With the former Minister of Education Hekia Parata, not only did we get overall better achievement for New Zealand students but this skyrocketed and the gap between Māori achievement and the national average is quickly closing. The same is true for our Pasifika cousins.

One other thing that was really relevant, particularly for the Māori Affairs Committee, was the health of Māori, particularly around the Better Public Services targets, as well. As we saw, a lot of this has actually been reflected in better health services for Māori. Last week the Prime Minister announced the targets for the Public Service, including the target to reduce the number of hospitalisations of children aged 12 years and under with preventable conditions. This has also meant that Māori have measured how a lot of these sorts of cases are actually treated.

I think one other thing that is really important within this sector is that this Government—and it has been reflected on a number of things that have come through the Māori Affairs Committee—has actually very much really considered how we measure and treat the most vulnerable members in our society. This Government can actually stand proud on its record of actual results from the most vulnerable in our society. In looking at that, the election itself—to do this was actually very tangible in the way that we improved lives for every New Zealander.

So when we look at these sorts of different things that we have seen, particularly in the Māori Affairs Committee—Treaty settlements. It has been a record, actually, of deeds of settlement that have been signed and deeds of settlement that have been passed. One of the things around the Treaty settlements is that this is also a part where it actually does very much create a positive environment for regional development. When we look at a lot of the regional development that is tied to Treaty settlements, it is very much about how iwi can actually develop a lot of their commercial development and social development. And, in turn, that leads to better education and also better health. Commercial education is another thing, particularly around scholarships that are offered by the iwi, and savings schemes and all these sort of services that are supplementary to what the Government provides.

So with this report on appropriations, the Māori Affairs Committee, being a collegial committee—

Before I call Kelvin Davis, I am just going to make a ruling. The member Nuk Korako might have seen that I went to stand up to interrupt him when he started talking about Treaty settlements, because the Office of Treaty Settlements is not on the list of organisations that we are currently looking at. I did, however, go back and have a look at the finance and government administration sector, where one might have expected to find it. I found it is neither there nor anywhere else. So, at some risk of criticising my colleagues on the Business Committee who did the allocation, it appears that the Office of Treaty Settlements has been missed, and I will therefore rule that reference to it can be made as part of this sector.

I will take that opportunity, then, to acknowledge the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations, the Hon Chris Finlayson. I think, regardless of which side of the House we sit on, he has done a really good job in getting Treaty settlements through the House. I know that they are not always unanimously agreed to by various iwi and hapū, but, in general, you cannot fault the work that he has put into that portfolio. I just also want to talk about the Te Awa Tupua (Whanganui River Claims Settlement) Act, because I think that was actually an amazing, groundbreaking piece of legislation that has given Te Awa o Whanganui the status of a legal person. I think that that is legislation that should be used throughout the country to make sure that we do protect all our waterways, not just Te Awa o Whanganui. I hope it is replicated.

The Government will tell us how great the country is going. The difficulty for many Māori, mainly those Māori at the bottom end of the scale, is that they are not really feeling the love. If we look at Māori homeownership rates, it is now down around 28 percent, which is the lowest Māori homeownership rate ever, in the history of New Zealand—going right back to the time when everybody lived in an eco-whare. That has got to change. We cannot afford to have our people living in cars, living on the streets, living in doorways, having to be put up in marae such as Te Puea Marae. And when they are having to be put up in marae, I would like to think that more than $10,000 would go towards putting them up there. Māori unemployment—one in 10 Māori is now unemployed. That is over twice the rate of non-Māori. Part of that can be put down to the education system. We hear how NCEA rates for Māori have grown and improved over the last 9 years, and yet we are still not seeing that reflected in the ability of Māori to get jobs to the same extent that non-Māori can. That needs to change.

When we had Minister Flavell in front of the Māori Affairs Committee, we asked him about Whānau Ora. The concept of Whānau Ora we agree with. I believe that there needs to be more Government support towards the implementation of Whānau Ora. We cannot just rely on the commissioning agencies to do the work and not be funded for it. I believe when the former Minister for Whānau Ora, Tariana Turia, first developed the idea of Whānau Ora, she actually wanted considerably more—millions and millions of dollars—to make it happen. So Whānau Ora, financially, is a shadow of what it should be. It is trying to achieve huge outcomes with not enough pūtea, not enough funding. I just take my hats off to the commissioning agencies, which are doing the best they can with the resources they do have.

When the Minister in the chair, the Hon Te Ururoa Flavell, was in front of us at the select committee, he mentioned there was a $5 million fund set aside to get Māori out to vote. The reality, from our understanding, from our inquiries, is that that $5 million is yet be used at all. I am not sure this is the appropriate time to ask questions of the Minister, but it would be good to know what has happened to that $5 million fund. Is it being used to get Māori to register, first of all, as voters? As the Minister said in the select committee, regardless of who you vote for, can we get Māori out? A huge proportion of our people does not vote. They need to, and so we would like to know what is happening with that fund.

The Minister also spoke about and gave a couple of anecdotes about how things are improving for some whānau. The question was raised in the select committee, looking at the anecdotes that were given and the work that some agencies have been given—millions and millions of dollars to use—how is that work actually different to the work that many of our electorate offices are actually doing out in the communities? Imagine the work that our offices could achieve if they too were funded to the tune of millions and millions of dollars.

Does the member want a call?

💬 Barry Coates: Mr Chairperson.

The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch): You need to call. I call Barry Coates.

Tēnā koe, Mr Chair. Sorry, Mr Chair. I rise to speak about the most important issues that I think affect New Zealanders, which are about arts and culture. It is with great pleasure that I contribute to this annual review of issues that cover film, literature, visual arts, dance, theatre, performance, music, and just an extraordinary variety of cultural art. Arts and culture, I think, could be regarded not so much as a sector as, rather, who we are as New Zealanders. From the perspective of looking at a year in review, we can both celebrate some extraordinary performances from the sector and also ask ourselves whether or not we have fully recognised the value of arts and culture to our society.

If we look at the range of activities covered, from the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and the Royal New Zealand Ballet through to thousands of community-based arts and cultural organisations, from New Zealand On Air to our fantastic film industry, I think what we see is an incredible richness—a richness of culture as well as arts, across Māori, Pasifika, Asian, and many other cultures in our country. We see huge levels of participation. Surveys done showed that 89 percent of New Zealanders had engaged in arts and culture over the past year. We see 630,000 people regularly undertaking dance, compared with only 150,000 participating in rugby. We see, perhaps, a difference in the way that these different pursuits are treated in our society, in terms of both funding and also recognition. We see from our arts a huge contribution to our creativity and our innovation, not only in New Zealand but internationally. We see its representation at the Edinburgh Art Festival, at the Festival of the Pacific Arts, with Māori and Pasifika artists—over 100 artists involved—and we see the emergence, now, of Asian theatre as well, which is very exciting.

All of this has an impact on tourism and our international reputation. It is not only specific artists like Lorde, Eleanor Catton, Taika Waititi, Flight of the Conchords, and Peter Jackson, but it is the many thousands of other artists who are now represented internationally and who make a huge contribution to our international reputation. It also contributes to our quality of life. Imagine Wellington ever winning a “quality of life” award if it was just Parliament here and not the tremendous richness of Wellington as a centre for the arts.

We see, instead, a focus of much Government policy on commercial success and profitability, on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics rather than on the creative sectors. It is all about business innovation but not about the creativity that emanates from the arts sector. I think if you look at it from that context, we see that arts and culture in New Zealand have been starved of core funding. Funding has been flat and dropping in real terms over recent years. The arts community is forced to rely on volatile lottery funding, which is by no means ensured. We need to provide ways to support the thousands of struggling artists in our country, who are struggling to make a living in low-wage jobs or on the benefit. We need to provide opportunities to support them in being able to express their art and in being able to contribute to our society. The Government needs to be more of a partner as well as a funder for the artists. If we call this a creative industry rather than arts and culture, no doubt it would attract far more funding, perhaps in the hundreds of millions rather than $43.7 million in the last financial year.

So my message is: let us celebrate our amazing arts, our artists, our actors, our writers, our performers, our musicians, and our cultural artists. Let us support them. Thank you.

It is quite clear to me when it comes to the National Government that Pacific people have not been its first priority. The New Zealand economy looks good on the surface, but working New Zealanders have not been receiving a share of that success. Multinational companies and big banks are doing it good, but falling education levels in many families mean that our children are doing it bad.

Under National, speculators with rental homes in Auckland have been doing it good, but New Zealanders sleeping in their cars and garages have been doing it bad. Big businesses like health insurance companies have been doing it good, but people waiting months and years for elective surgery are doing it bad. The question I would like to ask of that Government is: what is the point in having a so-called strong national economy if the working New Zealanders—if the rest of New Zealand—are not sharing in that success?

There are over 350,000 Pacific people in New Zealand. This is the future workforce of New Zealand. Sixty percent of them are now born in New Zealand. We are growing three times faster than any other population and we have a median age of 22 years of age, compared with 37 for the rest of New Zealand. Sixty-six percent of that population lives in Auckland. I proudly say, wherever I go, that I represent Māngere—the gateway to the nation; land of the young, beautiful, and gifted; home of world champions. And the reason why I repeat that is that our young people must feel that they are supported, that they are cared for, and that we want to encourage them to reach their fullest potential. But, sadly, under this Government, in terms of unemployment—while everybody else has been doing good—Pacific people are still at 11 percent. We have a greater unemployment number than Māori; far more than Pākehā, which is at 4 percent at this time.

Here is the big issue: on Saturday there was a group of 500 people from all of South Auckland who came together, and I asked them: what is the No. 1 issue for you? Housing—for Pacific families, it is housing. Our homeownership at the moment is 16 percent. In 2013 figures it was 18.5 percent. That means 74 percent of our Pacific population does not own a home. How sad is that? Is that not an indictment that this Government’s policy does not favour Pacific people? It is even more reflected when you look at the median net worth of Pacific people: it is $12,000. The median net worth for the rest of New Zealand is $87,000. That is the gap—$12,000 median net worth for Pacific and $87,000 median net worth for the rest of New Zealand. That is the gap.

There are a couple of things that the ministry has said that it would work on, and the outcomes are education, language and culture, and the third outcome was going to be employment and entrepreneurship. We know that this Government does not prioritise Pacific people, because it simply wants to sweep them aside. The Pacific Business Trust is—basically, we do not know what is going on there. We have not heard anything. It has sold off the asset that is in Ōtāhuhu. We do not know what it is doing. When it comes to Pacific language, we have an asset called the Pasifika Education Centre, an asset that was born in 1974 under Phil Amos, who was the Minister of Education at the time, and was established in 1978 in Ponsonby. That asset, the Pasifika Education Centre, will cease to exist as we know it as of 1 July, because that is how long this Government appointed its board members for. It then becomes an entity under the Manukau Institute of Technology. Do you see the point I am making? Pacific people are not this Government’s first priority.

When it comes to education, we have heard this Government laud the increases in early childhood education participation. That is good, and that is largely as a result of the effort by families. They have lauded the increases in achievements in level 1 and level 2, but when we look at tertiary education levels—level 4—there has been a continued—

Kia ora tātau katoa i tēnei ahiahi, ka mihi rā ki a tātau katoa i tēnei rā. Ko te wāhi tuatahi, he tautoko ake i te kōrero a te hōnore mema o Te Tai Tokerau me tana mihi ki Te Minita mō ngā Take Tiriti. E tika ana tāna; ko ia tērā i āki nei i ngā kerēme kia eke ki te taumata e tika ana, kai te tautoko i tana kōrero mō te āhuatanga o te pire mō Te Awa Tipua. He mea hou tērā te whaiwhai haere nā te āhuatanga o te pire mō Ngāi Tūhoe, ko Te Urewera tērā. Nō reira, e mihi ana ki te āhuatanga o te kupu kōrero i puta i tērā o ngā mema ki Te Minita. E rima pea ngā pou i whakairia e au ki mua i te aroaro o Te Motu, i raro i tōku parirau ā-Minita nei. Ko ērā pou tuatahi, ko te whānau; tuarua, ko ngā take whare; tuatoru, ko te whakapapa; tuawhā, ko te whenua; tuarima, ko te whakawhanaketanga. Nā, me whai wāhi au ki te kōrero mō ētahi o ēnei take i tēnei wā tonu nei tuatahi ko Whānau Ora.

He pai tonu ki a au te kōrero a Kelvin Davis me tana whakaae mai ki te āhuatanga o Whānau Ora. Ko Whānau Ora i tipu ake ai i roto i ngā hiahia o Te Ao Māori me te kī, ka taea e tātau Te Ao Māori te whakatikatika i ngā uauatanga ka pā mai ki a tātau, ā, haere ake nei, haere ake nei. Nō reira, ko te painga ake o Whānau Ora, te tikanga ia, ka puta ngā painga o roto i te hauora, o roto i ngā take mātauranga, ā, whai mahi, ērā āhuatanga katoa. Nō reira, e rata ana ki a au ki te kōrero! He painga anō rā kua puta i a Whānau Ora, ka mutu, kua kite au. Kua kite ēnei karu i te painga i roto i ngā hapori katoa o Te Motu, Taumarunui mai, Kaitāia mai, Kawerau mai i te mea, kua riro mā ngā mea e mōhio nei ki ērā hapori ki te toro atu i te ringa āwhina ki tēnā, ki tēnā, ki tēnā. E ai ki ngā commissioning agencies, tae rā anō ki te mutunga o te tau kua hipa ake, rahi ake i te 10,500 whānau, me kī, kua whiwhi i ngā painga nā runga i te āhuatanga o Whānau Ora. Nō reira, tērā tērā!

Ka rua, ko ētahi kua pātai i te pātai, ā, he painga anō rā o Whānau Ora mō te whānau Pākehā? Ko tāku ko te kī atu, ē, āe! E tika ana! He nui ngā painga o Whānau Ora ki ngā whānau Pākehā ēhara i Te Māori rānei. E ai ki ngā tatauranga, 16 paihēneti ō roto o Tāmaki-makau-rau ēhara i Te Māori, nō reira, ka whai wāhi ngā non-Māori ki te whiwhi i ngā painga o Whānau Ora, Nō reira, inā kē ngā painga o Whānau Ora, kaua mō Te Māori i tōna kotahi ēngari, mō Te Motu.

Me huri atu rā i tēnei wā, me kī, kua whakarahi ake i te pūtea mō Whānau Ora, ka mutu, mā te $90 miriona, i ngā rua Pūtea kua hipa ake nei. Ka mutu, $5 miriona i te tau kua hipa ake i tukuna atu ai ki ngā ringa āwhina, arā, ki ngā navigators i Te Motu. Ko te painga ake, pēnā i tāku i kī nei, koirā te hunga ō roto i ngā hapori e mōhio nei ki tēnā, ki tēnā, ki tēnā, ka mutu, e taea ana e tēnā, e tēnā, e tēnā, ā, kia āwhinatia mai ai e ngā navigators.

Me huri rā ki ngā kaupapa whare i nāianei. Ka mutu, i ngā rā tata kua hipa ake, i pāohotia atu ko tētahi pūtea anō rā i tēnei tau tonu nei mō ngā take whare. E tika ana tā Kelvin Davis, ā, ko ngā take whare, he kaupapa nui, whakaharahara tērā. Mēnā e mahana ana te whare, e mā ana te whare, ērā kaupapa katoa, mā reira ka taea te tautoko i ngā whānau e rongo nei i ngā uauatanga. Nō reira, ko te kaupapa nui ki a au, o tēnei kaupapa o ngā whare, ko ngā tamariki, ko ngā tamariki i te mea, ka raruraru ngā tamariki, ka pā ki te māuiui, ē, kua raruraru katoa te whānau. Nō reira, mai i te wā i whakarewahia ko te Māori Housing Network, i te tau 2015, kua āwhinatia mai ai ko ngā whānau 140 Māori nei, i roto i ngā hapori katoa o Te Motu, nō reira, kai te tino harikoa te ngākau, ka mutu, i roto i ngā hapori pakupaku pēnei i a Ngāruawāhia, ā, kua whai wāhi anō hoki ahau, otirā, ko taku tari a Te Puni Kōkiri ki te āwhina i tērā momo hunga. Kua kite au i te pōhara nei, i te pirau nei o ētahi o ngā whānau e noho nei i te takiwā, i roto i Te Tai Tokerau, i roto i ngā takiwā katoa o Te Motu. Nō reira, i ngana nei Te Puni Kōkiri ki te tohatoha i ētahi moni ki te āwhina i a rātau; I te tau kua hipa ake, $10 miriona i tohatohaina, kaua ko te $15 ēngari, he pūtea tonu, tukuna ki uta, ki tai, ki te āwhina i te hunga e rongo nei i te uauatanga.

[Thank you to us all this afternoon and acknowledgments on this day. The first thing for me is to endorse the contribution of the honourable member of Te Tai Tokerau and his tribute to the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations. He is right; it was that Minister who urged the claims along to reach the appropriate level. I endorse his statement in regard to the situation of the bill for Te Awa Tipua. Following up is a new thing in regard to the situation about the bill for Ngāi Tūhoe, which is the Urewera one. Therefore, I commend the nature of the statement uttered by that one of the members to the Minister. Under this ministerial wing of mine there were five pillars perhaps that I hung up before the nation. Those pillars were firstly, about family, secondly, about housing matters, thirdly, about genealogy, fourthly, about land, and fifthly, about development. I have an opportunity right now to comment on some of these matters and firstly, Whānau Ora.

Kelvin Davis’ contribution and his approval of the situation relating to Whānau Ora were really good to me. It emerged from within Māoridom’s aspirations, which stated that we of Māoridom can rectify difficulties relating to us that crop up repeatedly. So traditionally, the good things about Whānau Ora are the benefits that grow from within health and educational matters, job opportunities, and from all of those situations. So I warm to the talk! There is indeed a gain that has come out of Whānau Ora, furthermore, I have seen it. These eyes of mine have seen the benefit in all the communities of the nation, from Taumarunui, Kaitāia, and Kawerau, because the responsibility to extend a helping hand to that one, that one, and that one, has gone to those ones who really know the situation in those communities. According to commissioning agencies, right up to the end of the year just past, more than 10,500 families, shall we say, have received benefits based on the Whānau Ora situation. And so that is that one!

Secondly, some have asked the question, does Whānau Ora have any benefits for the Pākehā family? I say, emphatically, yes! It is true! Whānau Ora has many benefits for Pākehā families or those who are not Māori either. According to the statistics, 16 percent within Auckland are not Māori, so non-Māori have an opportunity to receive Whānau Ora benefits. Therefore there are many, many Whānau Ora benefits that are not just for Māori alone, but for the nation.

Let us turn at this point in time, shall we say, to funding for Whānau Ora that has been increased, and furthermore, by $90 million during the two Budgets just past. What is more, a further $5 million was granted in the year just past to helping hands, in other words, to nationwide navigators. The real gain, as I alluded to earlier, are the ones within communities who really know who that one, that one, and that one are within those communities, who should get assistance from navigators.

Let us turn now to housing matters. Furthermore, in days just past, a further fund for Whānau Ora was announced only this year for housing matters. Kelvin Davis is correct in that those housing matters are critical and important ones. If the house and all those matters are warm and clean, then the support for families experiencing these difficulties will be possible. Therefore, children are the most important matter for me in regard to housing issues, because if they have issues, if they become sick, and then, hey, the entire family is in trouble. So from the time the Māori Housing Network was launched in 2015, 140 Māori families here were assisted in all communities of the nation, so the heart is elated and, as well as that, in the smaller communities like Ngāruawāhia I have also had the opportunity, in conjunction with my department Te Puni Kōkiri, to assist that type. I have witnessed this impoverishment and defeat experienced by some of the families in the region in the North and in all regions of the nation. Therefore, Te Puni Kōkiri has attempted to distribute some money to help them—$10 million was distributed in the past year, not $15 million, but a fund all the same was released to the interior and to the coast, to assist those experiencing difficulties.]

I am telling the Committee that the Māori Housing Network was able to support, through our repairs projects, about 379 whānau in areas of high deprivation, which is, basically, on the back of comments made by the honourable member for Te Tai Tokerau. We have been able to build 63 new affordable houses, mostly affordable rentals for whānau but owned by Māori collectives. We have been able to support whānau with infrastructure—that is, roading, connectivity to water and to sewerage—about 176 new homes in that regard—and 36 capability building projects, including papakāinga feasibility projects and 62 initiatives to increase whānau knowledge about housing. All of that is important, because what we have found is ka noho tonu ētahi o ngā whānau Māori i te kore mōhio ki te āhuatanga o ngā uauatanga ka pā ki a rātau [some Māori families remain oblivious to the nature of the difficulties that affect them].

They are finding that there are difficulties in dealing with banks and dealing with all the things that go with housing projects, and so on, and the development of that.

In answer to the member’s question in respect of electoral participation, I can tell him that the money will be going out. There will be two parts to the equation. One will be a little bit of support to the Electoral Commission to get in and amongst Māori communities. Secondly, there will very much be a focus on rangatahi from about the ages of 18 to 34, from memory, and there will also be a part in certain communities for those who have contacts in the Māori communities to be a part of that project, and, therefore, roll it out in a way that is appropriate for them. So it should not be coming over the top with what, sometimes, some of us might say is adult-speak and giving it to rangatahi. It just will not work. We have got to have those who are able to make the connections in the communities to get our people to participate in the election process. I understand his concern, but I can say that there is information available, I hope, on the Te Puni Kōkiri website in respect of the rolling-out of that particular project. If not now, it will be in the very near future. It is about increasing the Māori participation in the electoral process.

I have been really pleased with how Te Puni Kōkiri has reacted to some of the challenges that it has faced. Having secured the money, the direction from me, as Minister, has been to ensure that the money that we have secured—hard fought for—in discussions with the Minister of Finance must be rolled out into communities. That is to say, it will not necessarily be out the door straight away, but it is certainly committed within the financial year in which it has been secured. That way we can always look to, firstly, ensuring that the money that we secure is well spent, and then, secondly, that we can look towards building on the progress that has been made over time. That has been borne out by way of the progress made with Whānau Ora—and there is more money in that space, heading that way—but also in terms of the housing projects.

Of course, in the language development, kua tino harikoa i te mea kua eke Te Mātāwai ki tōna taumata [I am very delighted because Te Mātāwai has reached its summit].

We have been really pleased with the development, as slow as it has been for my liking. Nevertheless, it is appropriate under the circumstances, as a new organisation, just to bed in and get itself right, and now we are looking towards the join-up of having Te Maihi Karauna, Te Maihi Māori na, kia noho tahi ki te tēpu kotahi ki reira kōrero ai i ngā take [the Crown and Māori strategy to sit there together at the table to discuss the causes].

In terms of whenua, of course, we should not be discussing ture whenua in this debate, because we have not, in some senses, completed that debate fully, but that will be for another time. But in a whakawhanaketanga area, it is true that He Kai Kei Āku Ringa does have a direct input into Māori communities. I am really pleased with the fact that very shortly we will be relaunching He Kai Kei Āku Ringa, probably in front of one rugby game that is happening in the near future, whereby we will re-present He Kai Kei Āku Ringa as the Māori economic strategy. That is all in front of us.

💬 Hon Trevor Mallard: I’ve got my tickets.

Ha, ha! Good on you. I am happy for you. I have not got any yet, but, anyway, be that as it may, that will be some real progress in Māori economic development.

It is a pleasure to speak to the Appropriation (2015/16 Confirmation and Validation) Bill for the Māori and cultural sector. The annual review was wide ranging and it covered quite a lot of service areas under the umbrella of the Ministry of Māori Development. I want to start with the big picture from the annual review and look at the agency’s impact for Māori and then hone in on a few specific points.

Firstly, under this Government the life expectancy for Māori has improved. The gap in life expectancy between Māori and non-Māori is decreasing. Between 2005 and 2007 a non-Māori was expected to live 8 years longer than a Māori person. Well, that has reduced. It has reduced down to 7 years. We know life expectancy at birth is 77 years for Māori females and 73 years for Māori males. In comparison, non-Māori females are expected to live 84 years and non-Māori males 80 years. Basically, life expectancy has improved with what we have been doing.

One of the reasons for that is our attention to rheumatic fever, which we know significantly influences Māori children generally—teenagers and younger—more than others. This is a strange immune condition that, basically, attacks the heart valves. I recall seeing young children who might have been short of breath. You have always got to have in the back of your mind—yes, it could be asthma or they might be unfit, but what if they have got rheumatic fever and, in fact, they are getting congestive heart failure? I know I have seen in the past that when a child unexpectedly died they were thought to be just unfit. In fact, they had rheumatic fever, and they were building up fluid on the lungs and they died. We have really applied ourselves to rheumatic fever, and what we are finding here is a significant reduction. We have dropped from 97 cases in 2012 to 43 cases in 2016. That is a 56 percent reduction.

One of the explanations through the review for why Māori life expectancy has improved is our attention to rheumatic fever. If we talk about life expectancy and give it a number of years, that is just a number. That does not actually talk about the quality of life. We know that quality of life is related and correlated to incomes. We know that the higher an education a person has, generally, the better their quality of life. So education is a key enabler—it was mentioned by my colleague recently—for Māori, and this was discussed through the annual review as well. We can talk to some of the high points in that, through the whole education spectrum.

More Māori pre-schoolers are participating in early childhood education, up from 88 percent in 2008 to 94 percent in the 2016 review. Again, NCEA level 2 for 18-year-olds is better for Māori, and this came through the review also. It has improved from 62 percent to 72 percent. The Māori and Pasifika Trades Training Initiative has also done very well. In 2015 there were 1,800 participants. In 2016 there were 2,500. In my area, I actually went to the launch of the Māori and Pasifika Trades Training Initiative in 2014. I was a candidate at the time. McKay Electrical, a wonderful Whangarei firm led by Lindsay Faithfull, its managing director, was the first firm to take on a Māori and Pasifika trade apprentice. I actually caught up with Lindsay this afternoon and asked him how that had gone. He said it had gone exceptionally well. The apprentice graduated last year, the firm was pleased, and he is now out in the workforce. It is really a testimony to success, certainly in Whangarei as well.

So the quality of life is important. Education is an enabler. What is also an enabler is settlements. We have been given leeway to just briefly talk, under the Office of Treaty Settlements—of course settlements are important. They are a really key enabler, and a key enabler for Māori. I need to highlight that the Crown has signed 82 deeds of settlement with iwi, and this represents claims covering 70 percent of New Zealand’s land interests. I mean, the figures go on—89 percent of all iwi groups are recognised by mandate. We have signed 56 deeds of settlement. So this is a good story.

I want to just talk to my colleague here, because he brought into account the cultural part to this sector as well—the cultural arts sector. I just want to briefly talk to Hundertwasser, which is progressing very nicely. We have been working very hard on that over the past year, and we have ongoing meetings over the next few weeks. But what I want to comment on is that its full name is actually the Hundertwasser Wairau Māori Arts Centre—hundertwasser being 100 waters and wairau also being 100 waters. I just want to indicate that this is going to be a really important economic driver for Te Tai Tokerau, for Northland, and we are making good progress and are expecting big things. Thank you.

E hiahia ana au kia whakatakoto o aku whakaaro e pa ana ki tēnei take ahakoa i rongo i a mātou ngā kōrero ā Te Minita, ahakoa me pēhea te kaha o ana whakaaro, ē, kei te pai tana mahi. Tōku pātai, e aha ana te take kei te noho tonu te ao Māori i roto i ngā pōharatanga? Nā reira, wena te pātai nunui.

[I want to set down my views about this matter, mindful of the fact that we heard the Minister’s sentiments, and despite how firm his thoughts may be, what he is doing is fine. My question is: what is the reason why Māoridom is still impoverished? That is the big question.]

I was just saying that it does not matter how articulate the Minister has been in terms of the so-called achievements that Māori have made under his watch, particularly the references made by the previous speaker, Dr Shane Reti, the question needs to be asked: why are Māori still featuring very poorly across the social indices?

While the Minister for Economic Development mentioned the fact that unemployment had reduced to 4.9 percent, what he failed to make mention of was that in terms of the Māori population the percentages are unacceptably high, particularly in the electorate where I am based, in Whangarei—in fact, we have the highest unemployed Māori rate in the country. In spite of what some people might say about the economy in Whangarei and what this Government has done in terms of Māori, it is nothing to write home about.

We talk about unemployment. We talk about health. While we may have made some grounds in terms of some health issues, unfortunately, in terms of diabetes Māori feature very highly in those statistics. While we may have gained a few extra years as an average, in terms of our longevity, at the moment, if you go to hospital—and that is if Māori can get into hospital and access those services—you will find that there is an unacceptably high number of Māori having to use those services, if they have access to them.

The other issue is housing. In spite of the figures articulated by the Minister, if we compare them with back in the 1980s, when the Department of Māori Affairs still existed, you could guarantee that for every year there would be at least 500 new homes built for Māori. We cannot say that under this Government’s watch.

The other issue is in terms of trade training. The then Department of Māori Affairs ran a trade training scheme that every year saw 1,200 young people, both boys and girls, qualify with a trade. Those figures cannot be compared by this Government. What I am saying is that Māori are no different from the rest of the communication. All they want is good education, access to health services, a good job paying First World wages, and to have a good quality of life.

The Minister mentioned the level of funding that he has been able to get, under his watch. Then the question has to be asked: why is it that for 2 years running the Ministry of Economic Development underspent its allocation? That, to me, is criminal, given the social position of Māori in this country. We talk about Whānau Ora. How long has that programme been running? While the Minister may extol the virtues of that programme, in terms of how it has helped people, at the end of the day, if you look at the wider picture, it has not done very much for Māori. The only people from the Māori community who are extolling the virtues of those programmes are quite clearly those who support the Māori Party.

Reports noted.

Primary Sector