Dunne welcomes ‘open thinking’ behind Whanau Ora

UnitedFuture leader Peter Dunne today welcomed the release today of the Whanau Ora Taskforce Report, saying both the Maori Party and National should be congratulated for their willingness to “try something new and innovative”.

“The reality is that much of the work to help Maori lift across a bunch of social indicators just has not worked, so it makes sense to try something else,” Mr Dunne said.

He said it was important that Whanau Ora was a tool for the betterment of all New Zealanders, and not just Maori.

“It’s important now that Whanau Ora deliver and that in due course it will be held to account for what it does or doesn’t do. But first it needs to be given a fair go”.

He said it was good that the Government had not been trapped in “hide-bound orthodoxies – it’s about looking at what can work.”

He said he hoped that the same openness would be extended to other initiatives, such as UnitedFuture’s income-splitting tax proposal, for which legislation will be introduced later this year.

Income splitting works when one partner has a higher income than the other. When it is split between them, it falls into lower tax brackets.

ENDS

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