Te Pāti Māori Co-Leaders Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi have clearly stated that until such time as a Tiriti-centric Aotearoa is in full operation; reflected in the equal share of power and resource, they will never be supportive of any Government budget.

“In this 2023 Budget, Māori have received 0.47% of the entire Budget” said Rawiri Waititi.

“Three years of a so-called wellbeing budget and the wellbeing of our people here in Aotearoa couldn’t be worse off.

“This Budget is clearly choosing to prioritise the wellbeing of the rich over the wellbeing of the poor by ignoring the big elephant in the room; wealth tax.

“Our broken tax system has fuelled extreme wealth inequality that is only getting worse. While the average person in Aotearoa is paying 20.2% in tax, the wealthy are only paying 9.4%.

“This Government has continued to ignore every single piece of evidence that tells them shifting the burden of tax to the wealthy is where they need to be focussed, like a capital gains tax” said Debbie Ngarewa-Packer.

“A capital gains tax, if implemented in 2017, would have made $200 billion in tax revenue. That is nearly 2 times the annual amount of revenue the Crown currently receives.

“While 2% control 50% of the wealth in Aotearoa, 1 in 10 children and 1 in 5 tamariki Māori are living in poverty. Food prices are the highest they have been in three decades. Over 100,000 people are homeless in Aotearoa, and 60 percent of them are Māori.

“A wellbeing budget should ensure everyone has the dignity to be able to put good healthy kai on the table, to feed their babies and their whanau, and to have a roof over their heads” Ngarewa-Packer said.

Te Pāti Māori also acknowledge the fierce and relentless advocacy of the Matatini and Whanau Ora movements, having received the biggest ever increase in Te Matatini with an additional $15m annually for two years taking the total Matatini budget up to $17 million for two years.

Whānau Ora also received an additional $42m annually for 4 years, taking the total annual budget up to $186million.

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