Annual Review Debate — Māori, Other Populations and Cultural Sector

Tēnā koe, Madam Chair. It’s a pleasure to lead off this section of the annual review debate as the chair of the Māori Affairs Committee. I would like to acknowledge the members of our committee and our staff and all of those who are involved with the annual reviews that we conducted.

Unlike other committees, Māori Affairs is somewhat niche. We have three standard entities that get referred to our committee and they are Te Puni Kōkiri, the Ministry of Māori Development; Te Māngai Pāho, which is the Māori broadcasting funding agency; and Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Maori, that’s the Māori Language Commission. So we have substantial public funds that go through these entities through Vote Māori Development, primarily through Te Puni Kōkiri, and through Te Puni Kōkiri that vote gets dispersed to our Māori language entities that I’ve also referred to. We really enjoyed our exercise of inviting in the chairs and the CEOs, respectively, of our Māori entities that were conducting their annual reviews.

Starting with Te Puni Kōkiri, I’d like to acknowledge Michelle Hippolite, the chief executive. Te Puni Kōkiri is the Ministry of Māori Development. It has quite a breadth of role. It not only is a policy ministry, you could say, with also a regional presence with some 17 offices around the country, but it also administers a lot of significant amounts, actually, of investment funds which it puts into Whānau Ora and also into Māori language revitalisation and a whole host of other non-departmental appropriations.

So, by and large, Te Puni Kōkiri, in terms of its audit results, came through very, very well—very good ratings from the Office of the Auditor-General and that was reflected in, basically, its results. It had continued to make very good progress not only on its departmental side but also in its ensuring that outcomes are delivered through the likes of Whānau Ora. Can I acknowledge, at this point, the Ministers who are in charge of these entities—the Hon Nanaia Mahuta for the Ministry of Māori Development, the Hon Peeni Henare, the Minister responsible for Whānau Ora—because under their leadership we had great confidence in the presentations that we were given by Te Puni Kōkiri and, likewise, their reporting on the results that have been coming through from the Whānau Ora appropriations which are administered by the three commissioning agencies which look after Whānau Ora.

In fact, I think if there was one word that was coming through from our annual reviews it is “collaboration”. We have seen that with Te Puni Kōkiri and their collaboration with whānau, hapū, iwi in terms of their Māori lands and papakainga. Likewise, through Whānau Ora, a lot of collaboration between Whānau Ora, the Ministry of Social Development, and the Department of Corrections—just in the recent pathways for announcements there. But that also spans into other significant collaborative ventures—Well Child / Tamariki Ora. So it’s collaborative arrangements which are getting very good results.

That also spans into Te Reo Māori revitalisation space. As I mentioned, there are not only the two entities that we conducted annual reviews on but under those two entities sit, pretty much, the language industry of Māori Television, Māori radio, Māori media, and all of it is about revitalising the Māori language, which is a Treaty responsibility on the Crown. I want to commend those agencies.

Te Māngai Pāho—it’s a challenging environment. We all know that technologies are ever-accelerating; different platforms are required to reach out to connect with audiences. Likewise, the content that is produced has to be fit for purpose and be able to be transmitted across these new media platforms. So it’s a really dynamic space, but I’m really pleased it can be summed up in Te Whare o te Reo Mauriora; we can now celebrate, the house of the revitalising of our Māori language now stands. We have te Maihi Karauna, te Maihi Māori, represented by our various entities and some fantastic leadership which is now leading it through into the future under our Government and with this administration. Nō reira, kia ora tātou.

Thank you, Madam Chair. That was a lovely speech, thank you, Rino Tirikatene. I do want to acknowledge Rino Tirikatene, the chair of the Māori Affairs Committee, and members on it.

My contribution actually concentrates on how disappointed I had been over the funding of Māori development with this Government—$37 million in Māori development wasn’t exactly the greatest amount of money that anybody could invest into Māori. Also, the fact that Whānau Ora got no funding over that Budget period; that was a big disappointment, not only to this side of the House but to a number of Māori providers, of whānau out there who had come in to support the number of Māori members on the other side of the House and were disappointed, and being able to express that to us.

When I look at the total funds that were given over for Māori development, it was $56 million; $19 million went to Te Arawhiti. As we heard in the previous vote, around $22 million of that came from Whānau Ora into the corrections announcement. The $98 million—$22 million of that coming from Whānau Ora. What I wanted to say was that if $22 million could go into a corrections budget, why couldn’t it have gone into Whānau Ora in the 2018 Budget? Why couldn’t that be invested in Whānau Ora? The review of Whānau Ora that took place in the last 12 months gave the Government no reason to do nasty things to it. It was actually a very good review, and I have not seen any additional funding spoken of from the Minister for Whānau Ora into Whānau Ora, and neither have the commissioning agencies or the providers out there.

As I start to go through the various areas of the Māori development portfolio, I just want to say to those Ministers: your positions in Government as Ministers were there to actually do something for Māori. To be honest, it’s been a big disappointment for Māori. All of you have been a big disappointment for Māori. So far, the $20 million promise that this Labour Party gave in their 2017 campaign manifesto never came true. So when we start looking at that promise, we can see that the Minister for Whānau Ora is now behind the eight ball. He is going to have to give a lot more in this next Budget for Whānau Ora than what he is most probably looking at giving.

What we’re looking at now is a fund of over $50 million, $60 million, $70 million for Whānau Ora. Will Whānau Ora get it? I don’t—

💬 Hon Willie Jackson: How much?

I’ve just said—not listening. Not listening—need to listen. You need to listen. Therefore, will it actually happen that way? Will it happen that way? I don’t think it will. I think, actually, in the Whānau Ora budget, even though we’re talking about a wellbeing Budget based on Whānau Ora—let’s see what will actually happen. I don’t think it will happen, to be honest. It won’t.

So when I look at Māori development—what’s going to happen with Māori development? Are we going to get any more than $37 million from that last Budget round? I don’t think so. So many things are happening within this new Wellbeing Budget that are actually clawing out funding from Māori development and Whānau Ora, and we can see it. Already corrections has taken some. We’re going to see it through housing, we’re going to see it through all those areas, and we will see a dissipation of funding into the future for Māori development, and it is a disgusting way to look at it.

When I look at the Māori Land Service—that was actually not even funded in the last Budget. Why was that? The Hon Chris Finlayson actually mentioned that in his contribution last year. Why was it missed out? Why was it not included in the Budget? Nobody knows. It was a great opportunity, he said, but no—couldn’t actually figure out why that Government would not fund it. Then when we start to look at our surplus that came through on Te Puni Kōkiri last year, over $5 million in surplus was redirected and then came back into the fund. Why is it that the surplus cannot be expended in the year it is given?

Come on, Government, get your agencies moving. Get them investing in that, because what will happen is, if there is a surplus in this year, then the Government will look at it and say, “Well, you made a surplus, so we’re not going to fund you any more.”

Kia ora. Thank you, Madam Chair. Well, that was another shocking speech from another Māori member, anyway. But I’m here to talk about the Māori appropriations. I’ll stick with the subject and we won’t get personal, but it’s hard not to after that type of speech.

Can I say, in terms of what we’ve done in terms of things Māori, I’m very proud of what’s happened over the last 12 months. I think we’re on track now. Whānau Ora has been brought up by the member on the other side, who was so wrong. She made allegations against myself and John Tamihere in terms of what we did in terms of the commissioning agencies, and was 100 percent wrong; so much so that Nuk Korako had to tell her that she was wrong. As far as I know, she hasn’t apologised to Nuk or myself, where she actually made allegations that we—

CHAIRPERSON (Poto Williams): Order! You’re talking about some quite serious matters here. I think we should get back to the appropriations, thank you, and could we just settle down.

Yes. No, I am, Madam Chair. I’m talking about Whānau Ora. This is very important, Madam Chair, because—

CHAIRPERSON (Poto Williams): Are you talking about Whānau Ora in the context of being an MP?

Absolutely.

CHAIRPERSON (Poto Williams): Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. We’ve gone through a review of Whānau Ora, and the kaupapa is now set. The Minister has overseen a review. It’s been a comprehensive review, and we were challenged, absolutely, by that member there, and, of course, everything’s come out hunky—

💬 Jo Hayes: I have every right to do that.

Oh, absolutely. You’ve got every right, there’s no doubt about that, but that speaker was wrong, absolutely, like the other National MPs. Now the Minister has an opportunity with this next Budget to prove that member wrong again, which, no doubt, he will.

Of course, this Māori caucus has really shone over the last 12 months. What have we done? There has been investment in our people. That’s what I’m particularly happy about. For myself, in terms of Te Puni Kōkiri—they supported us in terms of our investment in terms of young people, rangatahi. He Poutama Rangatahi has been a huge success in the regions—regions that have been deprived of support by the previous National Government. It was absolutely shocking.

We go into the regions and we ask them what sort of support they got over the last few years—myself and Shane Jones—and they say, “Nothing.” So what we’ve been able to do is invest in these regions, particularly through He Poutama Rangatahi and the Provincial Growth Fund, which has proven a huge success. Our people in the regions are saying, “Why couldn’t they get more than just baseline in the Hawke’s Bay, on the East Coast, and in the north?” When you see the type of support we’ve been getting, some people would be surprised.

In terms of what’s happened, we’ve invested in four regions where deprivation was able to flourish under that previous Government: Tai Rāwhiti, Bay of Plenty, Tai Tokerau, and the Hawke’s Bay. He Poutama Rangatahi is now supporting 22 projects in four regions. These projects are targeting over 2,530 rangatahi NEETs to support them on pathways to employment. It’s fantastic, what’s happening.

Shane Jones and myself were in Kawerau last week, a town that was forgotten in terms of the previous Government, and the local mayor was with us, Malcolm Black. He said that the investment in terms of the town was something that the township has been waiting for for so long. So over there in Kawerau, we were able to give $969,000 to Kawerau Pathways to Work, $598,000 to Eastern Bay of Plenty Driver and Operator Training Centre, and $370,000 into Te Kaha in terms of the landowners group. This is the Provincial Growth Fund and He Poutama Rangatahi working for the people, investing in areas that have had no support in terms of skills, no support in terms of the workers, and no support in terms of the local area. I’m just so pleased that we’ve been able to do this under the umbrella of Māori over the last few months.

There’s been a lot of criticism, particularly from the other side, in terms of us not delivering in targeted funding, but what this Government has shown in the last couple of months, in fact, is that targeted funding is starting to work. We’ve had a $100 million investment in terms of whenua Māori. Minister Davis and Minister Henare—$98 million in terms of corrections. That’s a fantastic investment in terms of Māori, with a Budget still to come in the next week, where the members, again, will get egg all over their faces because they will see the investment again in Māori in the next week, and I’ll come back up here to get my apology from those members. Kia ora, Madam Chair.

It’s a pleasure to take a call on this annual review discussion that we’re having. It’s always a pleasure to follow the Hon Willie Jackson because you know when he’s speaking off topic. You know when he’s got nothing to say when he starts lashing out at Opposition MPs, telling them to go back to Italy or that they’re not Māori enough. The real fact of the matter—

CHAIRPERSON (Poto Williams): Order! Let’s come back to the matter at hand, thank you.

—yes, we’re coming back, Madam Chair—is: what have they delivered? The consistent thing that we’ve heard tonight is that Labour promised big and they have failed to deliver. And what we’re going to see here tonight, time and time again, is that they’re failing to deliver for Māori. What our leader Simon Bridges said up in Rātana a few months ago was very true, when he said we do the mahi and Labour get the credit for Māori development. It’s 18 months into this Government, and it’s time to reflect on what they have delivered, what they have promised, and where they are not delivering, because this is the year of delivery. Māori are expecting a year of delivery for them, and, unfortunately, they’re not getting it.

So what did they promise in their 2017 election campaign manifesto? They promised $20 million extra for Whānau Ora. What have we seen to that to date? Zero—nothing. What else did they promise in their election manifesto? Supporting teachers to learn Te Reo in our schools. Where have we seen that? What else have they said? Yes, they’ve done a review. That’s great to hear. They also promised better homes for Māori. Well, Willie Jackson, how many homes have you built for Māori in the last 18 months? Is it—how many? Eighty. How many of those were planned already under this Government? Probably half—probably half.

So, unfortunately, this is a Government that promised big that is failing to deliver. It’s failing to deliver for Māori. What’s been delivered so far is unclear. Te Reo that’s been promised in our schools is unclear. We’ve had Whānau Ora, where there’s been no extra money for the budget. What are the results? Well, they’re very simple. Māori unemployment: still twice the national average rate in New Zealand. We’ve got eight Māori Ministers that have failed to deliver for Māori and continue to do so. We’ve got the proportion of Māori—and we’ve had a discussion here tonight about the proportion of Māori in our prisons, and there’s a marginal decrease. Well, the real fact of the matter is that the proportion of Māori in our prisons is still far too high, and they are failing to deliver across—

CHAIRPERSON (Poto Williams): Could I ask the member, in the last two minutes that he has, to come back to the matter at—you know, we are talking about a specific sector, thank you, and the entities within it.

Absolutely—yep, absolutely. Absolutely. So there are three entities, and we’ve talked about Whānau Ora. Whānau Ora’s a great initiative. It’s a whānau-based initiative linking different providers, and this Government promised big. They promised $20 million over the next four years, and what have they delivered? What have they delivered on that? Nothing—nothing in the Budget to date. What we’ve seen is a Government that continues to promise big, continues to be big on rhetoric but light on delivery—this in the year of delivery.

We’ve also talked in the annual review process about Te Puni Kōkiri (TPK) and about improving their accountability. We do want to see them improve the impact that they have on other Government agencies out there. It is a limited budget. As the chair of the Māori Affairs Committee said, it’s only about $71 million that is in this agency, and we do want to see more accountability for TPK to make sure that they are in fact delivering for this Government, because this Government is, unfortunately, not delivering for Māori. It’s consistently promising a big game. Where is Te Reo that is being promised in our schools? I’m holding the election manifesto for Māori development right here, and it’s all very fluffy and big on rhetoric, but what have they delivered in this? It’s absolutely nothing—absolutely nothing. What did the previous Government—because the Government keeps talking about what we didn’t do in the previous nine years. Well, what did we do in the previous nine years? We got over 50,000 Māori work between 2012 and 2017. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I’d just like to respond to some of the accusations that have been made in the last 10 minutes around this Government. First of all, what has this Government done—where is Te Reo Māori in schools? Well, I don’t know where the member who just sat down, Dan Bidois, has been for the last couple of months. He obviously missed the announcement—it was in the newspapers, it was on TV, we had a big launch, and it was called Te Ahu o te Reo Māori.

Let me explain what Te Ahu o te Reo Māori is. Te Ahu o te Reo Māori is our promise to integrate Te Reo Māori throughout the school curriculum by 2025. What have we done for Te Reo Māori in schools? We have launched Te Ahu o te Reo Māori. It’s been launched in four regions. Waikato-Tainui is one, Taranaki-Whanganui is another, Horowhenua is the third, and Te Wai Pounamu, around Ngāi Tahu, is the fourth area. We expect 700 teachers to take part in that. In the five or so weeks since that launch has been had, we’ve had over 500 teachers ask to be part of Te Ahu o te Reo Māori. It’s where we help them from whatever level their language ability is at; we help them, and we help them to grow further. We have face-to-face support, we have online support, and we have resources. So when Dan Bidois stands up and says “What has the Government been doing in terms of Te Reo Māori in our schools?”, it’s obvious that he’s been doing the Rip Van Winkle for the last few weeks and been sound asleep while we’ve been making announcements.

Then the other announcement that we had a week afterwards was Te Kawa Matakura. Te Kawa Matakura is a programme that brings back the traditional mātauranga Māori. In our schools, we have NCEA and things like that. Now, the big question that I heard in 2004 at the hui mātauranga Māori in Tūwharetoa was we want our Māori students to be achieving as Māori. Getting NCEA proves that you achieve; it doesn’t mean to say that you are achieving as Māori, and Te Kawa Matakura is bringing back old-time, true mātauranga Māori. Now, these are things that the previous Government never, ever considered, and I think that Dan Bidois should stand and apologise because, as I say, he hasn’t been keeping awake.

Then I want to just address something that Jo Hayes raised. When I look here on page 611, around the Ministry of Māori Development, Te Puni Kōkiri (TPK), the financial performance, it says, “The ministry is funded mainly through Vote Māori Development. In 2017/18, its revenue was $73.204 million (about 11 percent more than in 2016/17).” But she stands up there and she first of all says the Government just got $35 million for Māori. Then a few minutes later, after a bit of waffle, she says the Government gave $56 million for Māori. Now, what is it, Jo Hayes? Is it $35 million for Māori or is it $56 million for Māori? Well, it’s neither. It says here on page 611 that its revenue for TPK was $73 million, 11 percent more than in 2016/17, 11 percent more than the previous Government gave to Te Puni Kōkiri—not $35 million, not $56 million, but $73 million. So another person has been asleep at the wheel. She sat in on the select committee. Surely, she must have seen this, read it, heard it. I mean, this book’s available for everybody. This is what we refer to when we come here and talk about these reviews, and she didn’t see the headline: 11 percent more in 2016/17, $73.204 million.

Then the final thing is Te Mātāwai. Te Mātāwai was established by the previous Minister for Māori Development, the Hon Te Ururoa Flavell. It wasn’t quite complete, the Hon Nanaia Mahuta has taken that to hand. We’ve established the Maihi Karauna. It has audacious goals to raise the numbers of Māori speakers—a million Māori speakers by 2040, I think, is the audacious goal. What are we doing for Māori? We’re doing a hell of a lot more than that previous Government over there, who’s sitting there throwing paper rocks at us. Honestly, they’re bouncing off because we know that we’ve done more than they ever did for Māori.

Tēnā koe, Madam Chair. Tēnā koutou e Te Whare. I rise to take a call specifically speaking to the financial review of the Ministry for Women and in my role as Minister for Women. I just want to talk very briefly about the priorities that the Government has for women, why those are important, and how we are in fact delivering on those.

As Minister for Women, it’s my priority to work for a better New Zealand for all women and girls in New Zealand. The reason we have a Ministry for Women and have this role is because despite all the progress we’ve made over the past few decades, still women are under-represented in Parliament. Women are under-represented, seriously, at local government levels. They’re under-represented in governance and leadership of private companies and there is a large pay gap, particularly for Māori and Pasifika women. So in my work in the past year, the ministry has prioritised an action plan and work programme specifically about closing the pay gap in the public sector. We recently made progress announcing our action plan, and, right across the public sector, organisations are focused on ensuring that they are making progress on gender parity in starting salaries, that there are no barriers to women taking up roles in senior leadership. For the first time, 50 percent of our chief executives in the public sector are women, and we have a target for 50 percent right across the top three levels of management in the Public Service.

The reason we do this work is because we want to live in a fair society, and all New Zealanders would agree that women should be treated fairly, that they should have the means to live a good life, and since we still have not achieved gender parity across so many different aspects of society, we have to sit down, develop some action plans, make sure that we’re sorting out our own house, and so that’s what we’re doing. But, of course, we want to set an example for private business and organisations so that they can achieve some of the same goals, and I have to say that some private businesses already are doing even better than Government in the space.

But, as I said before, closing the pay gap isn’t just about gender. It’s about recognising the ethnic dimension in that and that’s why we must recognise that the pay gap for Māori and Pasifika women is significantly worse, and that means that they are being underpaid—women are being underpaid in this country, Māori and Pacific women are being underpaid for the work that they do. That is not fair. Another big part of our work programme—and I just have to give a shout-out in terms of eliminating gender-based violence and sexual violence—is the fantastic announcement that was made at the weekend by my colleague—and the Prime Minister—Under-Secretary Jan Logie, who’s led an impressive work programme right across 10 different Government departments. That will be transformational in terms of eliminating gender-based domestic and sexual violence, and also providing that support and rehabilitation to offenders as well as to survivors, and that is how we make a difference for women. That’s how we eliminate violence and barriers to justice right across our beautiful country.

So I’m very proud of the work that we’re doing. This Government set a new target in terms of achieving appointments of women across public sector agencies. We increased it. Where the previous Government had decreased it to 45 percent, we increased it to 50 percent, because that’s right, and I’m happy to say that we’re making very good progress on that goal. I also want to talk about just the importance of the unpaid work that is predominantly undertaken by women in our society. I think we still have some way to go to recognising and supporting that work, but it is all part of how we transform our understanding of what our economy is, really, because what is the economy for? It’s so that people can live good lives, so that we have the resources we need, we have a warm home, we have an opportunity for meaningful work, and we have enough resource to put food on the table, to save some money for our retirement. The reality is that there is a huge gap when it comes to retirement for women, and that is because, so often, women shoulder the burden of the unpaid work in society.

But we have no society if we don’t have women giving birth to children and raising them, and so there are several steps that we need to take to recognise that. One is sharing the parenting responsibilities between parents—[Time expired]

E Te Mana Whakawā, good evening. We’re at that time of the evening where things can tend to get to be a little bit jovial, although there is still that element of seriousness about it. Look, standing to speak as a former member of the Māori Affairs Committee, I did enjoy the time that I gave service there, and I considered that I did add value as a member from the Māori community and also as a member from the National Party community. I look across the House, and I refer to the fact that I will be addressing the House and speaking about Te Puni Kōkiri, the Ministry of Māori Development; Te Māngai Pāho, which is the Māori broadcasting agency; and also the Māori Language Commission, Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori.

As I look across the House, the Hon Willie Jackson—the member still talks a big game. I hark back to the days when you were playing club rugby with my husband, and you were well-versed and you were well-known for talking the big talk. But it’s a bit of a different story when it comes to walking that talk, to the honourable member; so, as I say, talking the big game. I also refer to the Hon Kelvin Davis—in so far, again, as those relationships—and you talked about Te Arawhiti. I do acknowledge the importance of relationships that we as Māori reference, and, the Hon Kelvin Davis, the days that you played club rugby, as well; so I just reference that.

But I also connect into some previous discussion this evening—in the Minister’s portfolio, in responsibility for the Department of Corrections—my husband has worked in the Department of Corrections, and this ties into the kōrero wrapped up around wellbeing, in terms of Māori wellbeing. It was referenced earlier in the House by Dr Duncan Webb that corrections officers, they’re helping inmates in terms of legal matters. That’s not something new that has arisen and come about under a Labour coalition Government. That’s something—and I know this for a fact from the days when I’ve worked with corrections officers, my husband giving service previously there—that corrections officers have done irrespective of which Government has been in power.

Coming back to the Māori Affairs Committee, I hearken to the chair of that committee, my colleague Rino Tirikatene. The difference that I’ve noted from serving on the select committee with the Māori affairs members is the level of collegiality and the level of collaboration, but also focusing on the importance that we can come from a different perspective and we will challenge the big talk as it comes about.

So that’s what I’m standing to address the House about this evening. The catchcry and the rhetoric of this Government, as we heard it right from the beginning of their tenure taking up office, was “Let’s do this”; actually, a lot of that has been re-rhetoric-ed to “Let’s review this”.

I come to Te Puni Kōkiri. In Vote Māori Development, the honourable Minister Davis talked about the 2017/18 allocation of an increase of 11 percent in that Budget. My understanding as a new member—and I stand to be corrected—is that that was an amount that had been committed under the previous Government, with its allocation, and, therefore, that 11 percent increase had been locked in. This Government has been required to carry that forward, so acknowledgment to the previous Government in terms of the commitment to Vote Māori Development.

“Let’s review this”: so, as we know, the talk has been big, the walk has been somewhat a little bit little. In that regard, there have been some 200-plus—or even nudging up to 300—reviews around that. So Te Puni Kōkiri—my colleague Jo Hayes made reference that there was a surplus, and I recollect, when I sat on the committee, challenging that as to why. When there is a surplus, that could be considered an underspend; therefore, why allocate any more in the next Budget? So that was questioned, and the department was asked about better measuring and explaining the impact of the ministry’s work. That’s something that we look forward to. My goodness, the time that goes by.

I do recollect as well that the Māori broadcasting, in terms of the Māori radio stations, they talked about that their funding has been locked in, and it needs to be increased because of the service and the reach and value of that to it.

Look, in concluding, the Māori Language Commission: I just want to say that before I did leave the Māori Affairs Committee—Maika Te Amo, who is our translator there. I talked about living the language. I just planted the seed; he’s picked it up. We have our Te Reo Māori classes now that are available to all members in the House. Tomorrow morning at 8 o’clock, I would encourage everybody to go and live the language.

I call Michael Wood. I just want to caution members: please don’t speak past the bell or I will award a second call, and your whips may not be happy with that. I call Michael Wood.

Thank you very much for the call. I want to, after that admonishment, though, hand out a gold star to the member for Whanganui who has just resumed her seat because, in the comments that she brought forward to the committee, she was, of course, singularly accurate in identifying that the topic of this debate is, in fact, the annual reviews for the 2017/18 year. In doing so, she invalidated virtually everything that her preceding two colleagues—Joanne Hayes and Dan Bidois—said, because the entirety of their contributions were, effectively, slamming the Budget allocations for Te Puni Kōkiri, which are in these annual reviews. That was the entire content of their contributions.

What was just noted by the member who has resumed her seat, of course, is that the annual reviews that we are reviewing are annual reviews which actually span the period from between the two Governments for the 2017/18 years, and predominantly relate to appropriations that were set in Budget 2017. Mr Bidois might just want to listen up there, because his colleague from Whanganui has just taught him a little bit of a lesson about how this process actually works.

When it comes to those figures, it’s worth looking at where the money actually goes and how the community actually benefits. What we’re told on page 612 of the collated reports is that in terms of the money that was actually distributed via Whānau Ora through the three commissioning agencies, the amount in 2017/18 was $71.297 million. So this is the money that actually goes out to agencies in the community who deliver real benefits to communities. What we then learn is that that was an increase from $71.237 million in the 2016/17 year—a 0.08 percent increase. What we actually learn here is that under the money that was allocated by the previous Government between 2016/17 and 2017/18, there was basically a flat line in terms of the money that went through Whānau Ora actually out into communities where it might have some benefit.

So members on this side of the House are not going to sit back and take the kind of criticism that we’ve heard today—that there has been some kind of diminution of financial support for Māori communities through Whānau Ora, when the facts in the report that we’re actually debating in the committee today show that the funding was, effectively, frozen under that previous regime in their final year when money was actually appropriated. I think that’s important for the committee to note.

The other area that I want to touch on in this sector is one that hasn’t come up in debate so far, and that is, I think, one of the jewels in the crown of our public estate, and that is Radio New Zealand. Notwithstanding my previous comments which relate to the fact that we have a bridging between the two Governments being reflected in these reports, what we can acknowledge through the report which has been tabled by the very hard-working Economic Development, Science and Innovation Committee is that Radio New Zealand does a huge amount of work in terms of reflecting the stories and the culture of our country and keeping New Zealanders informed about the issues of the day and providing analysis that supports our public life.

We know that Radio New Zealand has done that under huge financial pressure, and the report reveals that. I know that from the hearing there was quite a bit of discussion about this. We know that that agency, for about nine years leading into this annual report, did have its funding frozen by that previous Government. That is why it is so good to see, in this report, that as we head into the 2018 year, there’s actually some funding going into Radio New Zealand, under the current Government, to support their important work. We see that $6 million extra going into the joint innovation fund with New Zealand On Air to enable Radio New Zealand to work with New Zealand On Air to actually work off digital platforms to make sure that New Zealanders are hearing their stories and we have a quality public broadcasting service in this country.

The other thing I want to note in the annual report from Radio New Zealand is a section which talks about the effort that has gone into getting Māori voices on Radio New Zealand. Many of us who listen to Radio New Zealand, of course, will note Guyon Espiner, who I think has been someone who’s really led the way in this area. He has recently departed, but he, and others working within Radio New Zealand, have really left an imprint in recent years in terms of the normalisation of people hearing Te Reo on our public broadcasting networks. It’s appropriate that that is reflected in this report, and I’m sure that it is something that will continue under the current leadership there, and this Government will certainly be supporting it with real funding and real support. Thank you, Madam Chair.