Sharples Pita: Supplementary Estimates — Imprest Supply Debate 
Sharples Pita: Supplementary Estimates — Imprest Supply Debate 
[Volume:640;Page:10181] 
Dr PITA SHARPLES (Co-Leader—Maori Party) 
: 
 Kia ora Madam Speaker. Tena koe. It is entirely appropriate to be examining the Appropriation (2006/07 Supplementary Estimates) Bill at this time—the time of Matariki. Matariki signalled a time of abundance when the fishing was thriving the moki and korokoro were plentiful and kumara and other vegetables were gathered. It was a time of plenty for our tipuna. It was a time for planning ahead: for planting new soils and for preparing the ground for fertile growth in the months ahead. So it is that we turn to the task ahead: the need for parliamentary authorisation of individual appropriations and changes in the expenditure. 
It would be fair to say we come with high expectations. In the week preceding this debate we have witnessed David Richwhite and a company involving his former partner Sir Michael Fay pay over $20 million to the Securities Commission to settle insider-trading proceedings relating to Tranz Rail—$20 million the cost of innocence! We have watched shares rocket exponentially from 14c to $5.15 as the news came to hand that the Skycity Entertainment Group Managing Director Evan Davies is to receive a $1.7 million exit payment. So one would think the scene is set for new beginnings for planning ahead. 
Part of that scenario setting is the allocation of an additional $2 million to host the World Heritage Committee and for the chairing of that committee. It is a very important committee which takes up a global surveillance role in protecting and preserving the world’s most outstanding and precious cultural and natural heritage. We have the incredible honour of hosting the World Heritage Committee meeting in Christchurch. It opened on Saturday and will run through to 2 July 2007. Matariki is a time to share and present offerings to others. In this regard we are particularly proud of the international leadership being demonstrated by the Ngati Tuwharetoa paramount chief Tumu te Heuheu in his role as chairperson. 
What else does the new year herald? It appears to herald a very significant investment in operationally deployed forces—an additional $72 million to take up the balance of three financial years. This is in addition of course to the $329952 million appropriated for defence equipment $10 million for fixed-wing transport forces $9 million for maritime patrol forces $8 million for land combat support forces and $21 million for naval combat forces—just a few among the items on the armed forces shopping list. 
I have come to this House on many occasions urging Parliament to consider the notion of a genuine progress index or GPI as the measurement of all aspects of our wealth human and other. It assesses all our social and environmental assets as well as our deficits. The index basically tracks all the flows of income that are not in the cash economy. It includes the widest range of measures that affect the health of the economy. So when we consider the supplementary estimates of appropriations for the year ending 30 June 2007 we expect to see planning for those who lack the fortune that others so clearly possess. I am reminded of that old 1970s poster: “It will be a great day when schools have enough money for books and the air force has to run a cake stall to buy another bomber.” 
All I need to do is to turn to my electorate to see that the fortune is not shared with all. Tamaki Makaurau has the highest proportion of youth. It is one of the fastest-growing regions in population terms and one of the lowest-income regions in Aotearoa. It is in the spirit of Matariki that we will be supporting the Minimum Wage (Abolition of Age Discrimination) Amendment Bill to ensure that a sincere though small start is made in spreading the abundance the wealth of this country amongst the youth and families of Otara and similar low-income areas. We expect that all who have a genuine interest in sharing abundance and wealth will also support the bill. 
We have been meeting together for months now to address what others may describe as the dysfunctionality of our youth gangs. Yet when we called the Minister to support us with one simple measure the call for an 0800 number—a team of workers was all ready at the other end to intervene in this negative culture—no funding came forward. When we come to this House we hear “Ban the patches!” and “Ban the gangs!” but nothing to say that here is a helping hand or a willing ear to offer a positive step forward. 
This is the south of Auckland where a 3-year-old boy died after being beaten to death with all manner of weapons including a baseball bat and a vacuum-cleaner pipe. I have a 3-year-old mokopuna and when I think of that precious life lost I wonder where our priorities are as a nation. This shameful horrifying abuse just keeps on occurring but with no sign of any response in this list of supplementary estimates. 
This is the south of Auckland where workers at the Centra Auckland Airport Hotel took strike action to highlight wages so low that people cannot make ends meet. One of the workers at that hotel Lopa Muliaga like many hotel staff earns just $12 an hour while the hotel spends over $10 million on refurbishments. That is not enough to get by to keep the power bills at bay to survive. I think of the statement made yesterday by the Mercury Energy boss who said: “Financial hardship is a social problem and it requires a coordinated community response. It requires us all to play our part and that includes not just the power industry but social agencies and Government as well.” 
It will be a grim Matariki for some. How can we have any hope of reinventing and rejuvenating ourselves of preparing for the cold hard winter ahead of anticipating the bounty of the season when that resourcing is clearly not evident in this Appropriation (2006/07 Supplementary Estimates) Bill? Although Maori Party members support of course any increase in the appropriations to settle Treaty of Waitangi claims the plans to establish a contestable aquaculture planning fund and the investment in a digital strategy for high-speed connectivity and growth this bill is sadly lacking in making the real difference to families in my electorate. I refer to the basics of life: a hot nutritious meal; essential services including water; and being able to avoid disconnection of power. The purely market-based approach is doing nothing to help the constituents who come to my office and probably many others as well. We must be brave enough to admit that the parlous existence of too many low-income families cannot be disregarded. 
How did we get to such a state that the balance is so skewed? The rising costs of electricity water and transport are all well above the rate of inflation and threatening the very viability of families to survive. Genuine progress must be reflected not just in sharemarket prosperity but also in gross total family incomes. Yet New Zealand exhibits a very uneven distribution of wealth. The richest 10 percent in our nation have increased their net worth to just over 50 percent of the total wealth of our country. Genuine progress is about the nation being able to host the Rugby World Cup and the World Heritage Committee at the same time as families and communities can host each other in their homes and can share the collective vision where benefits are shared by all. 
When we think of benefits we think of beneficiaries. We must ensure that those who find themselves on income support—some 37 percent of whom are Maori—are not turfed out in the cold or forced to sign up to the perplexity of a paper war without their real needs being met. We must build community resilience and community responsibility helping each other to help ourselves and caring in the broadest sense. We must combat the parasites of poverty—the loan sharks the pokie machines the addictions the alcohol and drug abuse—that feed this dysfunction. We must do it now because we can and we should. That is the promise of Matariki that we in this House are morally bound to take up.