Whaitiri Meka: Budget DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeWhaitiri Meka: Budget Debate[Sitting date: 31 May 2016. Volume:714;Page:11502. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]I want to acknowledge her in my contribution because now I want to turn to her ingoa or her namesake Te Puea Marae in Māngere. Te Puea Marae is currently picking up the slack that has been left to businesses left to families and left to communities by this Government in providing services to the most vulnerable providing services to those most in need.Te Puea Marae over the past week has received over 45 families 45 families of varying sizes and of varying ethnicities: Māori Pacific Island people Pākehā people Indian people Asian people and Somalian people. They have all been received into her warmth at Te Puea Marae. The marae did this with absolutely nothing. It did this with no support whatsoever from this Government. The people do this they come together with a sustainable plan to help these people—something that this Government has failed to do. I want to commend Te Puea Marae at this point in time because it is doing a fantastic job. I want to thank those people. Can I take this opportunity to thank the many families of Tāmaki-makau-rau and across Aotearoa who have given their love money and resources to assist Te Puea Marae with providing this essential service.Can I also make commendable mention to Flick Electric which has provided free electricity to Te Puea Marae which is giving this service. Can I also acknowledge Mitre 10 for giving chest freezers to Te Puea Marae to allow it to freeze meat because Te Puea Marae is not just about servicing the homeless people who come into the warmth of Te Puea Marae; it is actually serious about placing them into affordable housing giving them a platform to reach the aspirations that every whānau in New Zealand has—aspirations that this Government has forgotten about. Te Puea Marae is doing a fantastic job and I want to acknowledge it: Huri the chairman; the whānau at Te Puea Marae; and the hundreds of volunteers who have made their way to Te Puea Marae over the past week to serve the people of Aotearoa New Zealand.What this speaks to is actually this country does care. Although the speaker who has just finished his contribution Simon O’Connor might only make a very small mention in this House of homelessness actually the people of New Zealand do care about other whānau. They care about families they care about tamariki and they care about mokopuna. Why? Because in particular with our tamariki and our mokopuna they are our future. So what we would have loved to see in this Budget is something that would allow those people—the most vulnerable in our society; those who are going into the warmth of Te Puea Marae today tonight and tomorrow—to have a platform to reach the lofty aspirations that they currently hold for themselves for their children and for their grandchildren.Sadly we did not see that in this Budget and members on this side of the House have pointed to the many holes in this particular Budget. They have pointed out how it fails to meet the needs of our country at this point in time but what is worse is that it also fails to provide some sort of a plan for the future because this Government is simply living day by day.Meka Whaitiri: Short term.PEENI HENARE: Short-term thinking—policies made on the fly—despite those members waxing lyrical about having “a suite of measures” and “a suite of policies”. Well in Tāmaki-makau-rau housing is a serious issue but we have not seen one coherent plan for that. We see them kicking people out of Tāmaki-makau-rau—in fact giving them money to leave.Pita Paraone: Take the problem somewhere else.PEENI HENARE: “Go somewhere else. Take your problems elsewhere. We do not want to see it.” That is what is lacking in this Budget—aspiration. I can tell you that we on this side of the House are disappointed because although the Government may try to fudge many of the numbers the reality is this: education spending is not there; health spending is in fact going backwards. And I can say this: in speaking with the many constituents of Tāmaki makau-rau and across Aotearoa New Zealand Māori aspiration seems to be at the lowest level I have seen in many many years.I want to speak briefly about Te Reo Māori. I love Te Reo Māori—I have said it many times in this House. I get excited about Te Reo Māori and I fail to see how by fudging the numbers you can say that there is going to be over $30 million poured into Te Reo Māori. Let us be honest here—Pita Paraone: Peter had to pay Paul.PEENI HENARE: That is right. We are robbing Peter to pay Paul. Let us be serious here. The money going to Māori Television is not for the aspirations of Te Reo Māori; it is simply capital expenditure. It is bringing Māori Television up to a level playing field.Pita Paraone: Guilt money.PEENI HENARE: That is exactly what it is—guilt money. It is bringing Māori Television up to a level playing field that has no aspiration for Te Reo Māori. Where is the coherent plan in the recent Māori language legislation that passed through this House? The questions are still there.I also want to mention Te Ture Whenua Māori. This Budget actually set money aside for a bill that has not even been passed through this House—a bill for which submissions have not even been heard from the people and the stakeholders of that particular bill. So what does this tell us? It is a fait accompli. It tells us that processes made by that side of the House actually do not work for our people.Pita Paraone: And two votes are very important.PEENI HENARE: Oh wow we will talk about that very shortly. But what message does this send to our people? It sends this message: those members opposite do not care about the people they do not want to engage with them on a level playing field they do not care what the people have to say and they do not care that the legislation made in this House is going to affect the people and their landholdings. They are simply going to bulldoze their way to economic prosperity without the people and that is the key.In closing I say this to the people sleeping in cars garages and carports across Tāmaki-makau-rau and Aotearoa New Zealand: Labour cares. We care about them. We have a coherent plan. We want to do the best by them to make sure—as I have already mentioned—their aspirations are met. To my generation to the people who are looking to buy their first home to the people of my generation who want to have a warm dry safe home to raise their children in and to give them the best educational opportunities that this world has to offer I say on this side of the House we have a plan. We want to see you in a warm dry home for your children and for your grandchildren.I say to the people who are struggling with health issueswe are listening. Labour and the parties on this side of the House are listening to you. We hear your cries. We understand the pain that you are going through because this Government is not listening. We are here for you.I say to the parents who have aspirations for their children and for the future of New Zealand that if they are serious about the future of New Zealand they will take a good hard look at this Government and the Budget that was presented to them last week and say “We don’t want it.” and say to this Government: “This isn’t taking New Zealand seriously. It is not providing a platform for aspirations for the future of our country.”In closing I want to just return to the mantra of Te Puea Hērangi:Ka mahi ahau ka īnoi ahau ka moe ahau ka mahi anō.[I work pray sleep and resume working once again.]And I say to all of the whānau out there kia kaha tātou.