Harawira Hone: Budget Debate 
Harawira Hone: Budget Debate 
[Volume:639;Page:9565] 
HONE HARAWIRA (Maori Party—Te Tai Tokerau) 
: 
Tena koe. Tenatatou katoa e te Whare. This year’s Budget is like a bad blind date—one gets someone to go out with but she turns out to be kinorawa te hangapenaitaku whanaunga a Shane Jones e noho mai na ki tera taha. 
[badly put together like that relative of mine Shane Jones sitting over there on that side.] 
Setting a Budget might seem like a mammoth task but it ain’t really. Neither should it be. Budgets are simply a reflection of a Government’s priorities in its management of the nation’s affairs. Some Governments like to put their money into people and some like to put an emphasis on business. The tough part for the not so well off is that this Government seems to have a fixation with corporate tax cuts while providing little of value to those at the bottom of the economic ladder. Sadly for Maori people the last few Budgets confirmed the fact that this Government has little respect for the Treaty and for Treaty rights and that it has no genuine regard for the health education and employment needs of Maori. In the land where the Treaty is called the founding document of our nation this progressive downgrading of funding for Maori initiatives and the reduction of targeted funding to reduce disparities between Maori and Pakeha is a chilling message to all New Zealanders who care about justice. 
But let us not be mean. The sum of $19.5 million tagged for Maori is not something to turn up one’s nose at—or is it? When one sees that the Budget total was actually $3.3 billion that is when one starts looking at one’s date and wondering whether it was worth the phone call at all because 0.6 percent of the Budget adds up to being even uglier than one first thought. Yes we heard a trumpeting from the Minister of Maori Affairs that the Government was spending $172 million on Maori but the reality is way different. For a start although the Minister said that the Government will be spending $102 million on kohanga and kura over the next few years in fact there are no line items in the Budget to confirm that at all—none whatsoever. That leaves $70 million which does not sound too bad either except that it is to be spent over the next 4 years and not next year at all. That means that if the Government is spending $20 million this year then it will be spending less and less over the next 3 years if it is saying that the total will be $70 million. 
When the shim-sham game of the Minister of Finance and Tonto is finally exposed in the light of day the reality is far from the promise. I remember the summing up of my defence in the Patu squad court cases arising from the Springbok Tour when I attacked the police for trying to weave a spell of innuendo to con the jury into convicting me of some very serious charges based on the flimsiest of evidence. I remember a phrase I used to describe their tactics which describes exactly the Government’s spin on Maori funding in the Budget now—if one cannot dazzle them with brilliance then bamboozle them with purutiko. 
But let us give credit where credit is due—and there is precious little due to this Government for anything Maori in this Budget so this bit will be short. We welcome the $4.4 million for Vote Education the $2.5 million for Maori Wardens the $2.5 million for the Waitangi Tribunal and the $7.6 million for Maori broadcasting—although splitting a million dollars amongst 22 radio stations will not go very far. But we note that there has not been one cent not one brass razoo and not one penny targeted specifically to reducing the major health problems for Maori—smoking diabetes and heart disease—not one cent. Diabetes is so bad amongst Maori that we call the diabetes ward up in Whangarei the Maori ward because we can catch up with whanau from all over the Tai Tokerau there either visiting or as patients. The Minister of Health himself will tell people how much it is costing the nation to deal with diabetes smoking and heart-related problems for Maori and Pasifika people all over Aotearoa. 
This Budget was a prime opportunity to deal with the massive health problems being faced by Maori and the massive financial drain being caused by them yet as the Associate Minister of Health Mita Ririnui himself admitted on Radio Waatea: “There is no flagship Maori health initiative in this year’s Budget.”—nothing to deal with what Professor Paul Zimmet calls “a disproportionate toll of diabetes amongst indigenous peoples a tragedy threatening to consume world economies and bankrupt health systems.” 
Hon Mita Ririnui 
: Tell the truth. 
HONE HARAWIRA 
: I will just repeat that comment: the Associate Minister of Health Mita Ririnui himself admitted on Radio Waatea: “There is no flagship Maori health initiative in this year’s Budget.”—nothing for heart disease nothing for tobacco control nothing for diabetes and nothing for Maori. 
Hon Mita Ririnui 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. The member seems to be quoting from a document. I invite the member to table that document in the House because it sounded quite damning. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: The member will be seated. That is not a point of order. 
HONE HARAWIRA 
: At a time of top-heavy death rates amongst Maori children and at a time when kaumatua and kuia still die nearly a decade before Pakeha this Government chooses to offer nothing for Maori health. At a time when Australia has just announced a $280 million indigenous education direct assistance programme including $105 million targeted specifically to help Koori students with their literacy and numeracy and $42 million targeted specifically to help Koori kids stay at school our Government is spending how much? A measly $4.4 million! At a time when more than 50 percent of Maori students leave school without getting even National Certificate of Educational Achievement level 1 and when Maori attendance at schools is alarmingly low and when Maori are nearly 50 percent of all suspensions this Government is spending nothing—nothing—on Maori educational development programmes and nothing on Maori student retention programmes in its new Budget. In fact there is quite simply nothing at all in this Budget to address the recommendations of the United Nations special rapporteur that the Government must deal with this complete failure to address Maori underachievement in education. 
And as for the “KiwiSlaver Bill” for Maori it is just another sad little joke. First of all the statisticians tell us that the average Maori income is $20000 yet the Budget projects that to maximise benefits one will need to have an income of at least $25000. So that is already about 60 percent of Maori who will miss out. Then we find out that for those on low incomes the immediate effect will not be savings at all. In fact it will be more like a tax increase because the Government will be taking another 4 percent out of their wages. Four percent does not sound like a lot but when one is on a low income it is gold. Then we find out that the scheme is not even a Government scheme at all. Then we find out that our hard-earned dollars are going into the hands of private companies to be invested in company shares and properties. Effectively this Government has privatised superannuation and has turned it over to financial institutions whose primary goal is not client welfare but corporate profit. 
Then we find out that the Government does not guarantee these schemes so if the investments go belly up so do our “KiwiSlave” dollars. Then finally if one is Maori one realises that Maori in the KiwiSaver scheme will be paying all their lives and then dying 10 years before their Pakeha colleagues so they will not get any benefits anyway. If that is the legacy of this Government then heaven help the poor! Savings are cool but helping the rich get richer and hoping they do not blow one’s money sucks. 
But the Maori Party is not here just to praise or to condemn current practice. We take seriously our role of defending Maori rights and advancing Maori interests for the benefit of the whole nation. So here are a few ideas but our Government might have targeted funding to Maori to address Treaty rights and to reduce disparities. We call for the Government to open the books so that we can all see how much money is actually being spent on social rescue programmes for Maori and what results are being achieved. Taxpayers deserve to know and Maori are sick and tired of being blamed for departmental incompetence. 
 Unbundle the funding! John Tamihere got a mention before from the Labour member. He got blasted by Labour for daring to say that social problems are managed better by communities than by bureaucrats but he was right. The Maori Party believes that community control of social funding will generate far better returns for society than the bloated social budgets that this Government uses to control people’s lives. If it is true that kura kids do so well then why is the Government cutting off funding to Maori language teachers? The Maori Party calls for the immediate employment of 1000 new Maori language teachers because successful teaching leads to successful students and successful students become successful citizens. 
Statisticians confirm that most social problems come from Maori on the dole so why does not the Government focus on reducing the current Maori dole level of 36 percent? Folks Budgets are not rocket science. They are about priorities. The Maori Party’s priorities are people. Unfortunately Labour’s Budget promises of corporate tax cuts suggest that its priorities lie elsewhere. Kia ora Mr Speaker.