Debate on the Budget Policy Statement

Wednesday 11th April 2015

Marama Fox, Co-leader of the Māori Party

MARAMA FOX (Co-Leader—Māori Party): Kia ora, e te Mana Whakawā. Nei rā te mihi atu ki a koe me te Whare**. Last week I was in Christchurch where in fact just about the whole of Māoridom was there, and there I witnessed the power and the magnificence that is being Māori in the week of *Te Matatini. Why is that so magnificent? Well, it is because there at Te Matatini all of the issues pertinent to the day are spoken about in haka and in waiata. In fact, our very own Prime Minister was the subject of many haka throughout that week. If you had the opportunity to watch Te Matatini you would have seen the issues pertaining to Māori articulated in beautiful song and beautiful waiata-ā-ringa.

In fact, I think that all of the politicians of the day should spend time at Te Matatini* to hear the voice of Māoridom. We are not the only ones who speak with an independent voice on behalf of Māori. Māori speak for themselves, and we are very proud to support Māori self-determination and their aspirations. Working with the National Government in the relationship accord that we have had is actually quite a remarkable agreement. We are grateful for the opportunity to work with a Government that understands the need to ensure that the Māori is heard and that the Māori aspirations of our people are upheld and included in things like the Budget*. I would loudly and proudly crow about all of these things that we have been able to achieve with the National Government on the condition that we can have some more, thank you very much.

The Māori Party has pushed, and has been successful in addressing, a number of the issues that face Māori. One of those has been the establishment of the *Ministerial Committee on Poverty, and through this committee we have been able to achieve a number of benefits for Māori and for the wider community. We have to remember that when we are able to achieve things for Māori, there is value added not just for our own people but for the whole of Aotearoa. We saw the need to support our whānau* to be warm, healthy, and secure, hence the investment in home insulation, reducing rheumatic fever, and a pilot programme of warrant of fitness testing on housing. We have secured millions of dollars’ worth of direct investment in Māori communities, spread across a wide range of portfolios targeting housing, employment, social development, education, disabilities, Māori language, access to jobs through trade training* cadetships, community development, and health, including securing funding for free GP* visits and prescriptions. Despite what some parties may think, they do not have a monopoly on intellectual property*, and though they might have an idea, they can do nothing about it if they are sitting in Opposition. So we are grateful to have, again, a working accord with the National Government to achieve the things that we put out on the table. We have extended *KickStart Breakfast to bring food into schools—into every school in the country if they ask for it. We have introduced the Māori history in schools. We have advocated for the recognition of cultural significance and, of course, the unique and life-changing approach that many of us know as Whānau Ora*.

We have seen how Whānau Ora has transformed lives. I have listened to young men talk about the transformation that they have had in their lives through Whānau Ora, through the opportunity to plan, to gain the dreams and visions that they have, and to build closer connectedness with their whānau. Whānau Ora changes lives. We are pleased to support Waka Hourua*, E Tū Whānau*, and all of these sorts of things. We want to do more, though. We want to do more to work with iwi to see mana whenua* being able to thrive and lift their economic potential in order to address disparities. We realise that some of the things we support might not be things you expect—like we support the schooling initiative of kura hourua, with my good friend over here, Rāwiri, because we need to ensure that Māori have the potential and have the aspirations of educational achievement.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Trevor Mallard): Order! Whole names.

MARAMA FOX: Oh, Mr Rāwiri Seymour, of the ACT Party—whole names.

The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Trevor Mallard): Thank you.

MARAMA FOX: We want to ensure that there is a choice for Māori, who have been *underserved in our country to date. Therefore, we would like to support the Budget and we want to ensure that we continue to have gains in the coming year.

ENDS

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