Harawira Hone: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Harawira Hone: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:629;Page:1885] 
11.  
HONE HARAWIRA (Maori Party—Te Tai Tokerau) 
 to the  
Minister of Finance 
: Ka pehea te Wahanga Kaitohutohu Kaupapa Rawa e whai mohio e mohio ranei i nga whakapaunga putea Maori i roto i te Kawana he aha hoki te rahi o te whakapaunga whai hua a te Maori? 
[ 
How does Treasury track expenditure for Maori across Government and to what extent does this expenditure contribute to Maori economic development? 
] 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN (Minister of Finance) 
: 
 Treasury does not track explicitly the split of all expenditure by ethnic groups across all sectors. However all Government departments are expected to report on their progress in reducing inequalities in their annual reports.  
Hone Harawira 
: He aha te ahua o te ngakau kino o nga mahi kei te whakahaerehia e te Tari Kaitohutohu Kaupapa Rawa i kitea e te ropu whakawa a-waho ara nga kaupapa tauteute pupuri kaimahi a he aha hoki nga kaupapa hei ngaki i nga whakanohanga kai kiri? 
[An interpretation in English was given to the House.] 
[ 
What was the nature of the unintended bias identified by external review as occurring in the operations of Treasury’s recruitment and retention procedure; and what initiatives have been taken to address institutional racism? 
] 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: I certainly do not accept that there is institutional racism within Treasury. Indeed the recent report released by the Controller and Auditor-General actually is quite supportive of actions taken by Treasury. However it is fair to say that Treasury has not made as much progress as it would wish in terms of hiring Maori staff. 
Hon Bill English 
: How can Treasury track Government expenditure at all when we found out today that the Government cannot organise the audit of the financial statements of a public institution that the Government is paying for squads of district health board staff to fly halfway round the world and compete with each other for health employees and that the Government has a policy that allows New Zealanders on incomes of $80000 to $100000 to stay in State houses intended for the needy? 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: First the Controller and Auditor-General not the Government is responsible for the audit of the wananga—because of course the Controller and Auditor-General is an Officer of Parliament not an officer of the Government. On the last point it was National policy that lifted any notion of social targeting in the allocation of State housing. On the matter of the district health boards it was the National Government that moved away from a small number of large area health boards to a large number of small district health boards. 
Te Ururoa Flavell 
: He aha te whakautu a te Tari Kaitohutohu Kaupapa Rawa ki tera i kitea e te Kai Ripoata mo te Ropu Whakakotahi Tangata i te Ao i te tau kua taha ake nei ara he waimeha te ahua o nga kaute hei whakaatu i tena matawaka i tena matawaka? 
[An interpretation in English was given to the House.] 
[ 
What response has Treasury made to findings from the United Nations special rapporteur late last year that there is a lack of significant disaggregated statistical data identifying ethnicity? 
] 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: Some data is disaggregated but much Government spending is quite impossible to disaggregate. I have no idea how one would disaggregate the spending on roading for example. It is very hard to disaggregate most spending within the compulsory health sector. It is very hard to disaggregate very large areas of Government spending into spending by ethnicity by the very nature of the spending that occurs. It would make no sense to have spending for Maori for roads and for Pakeha for roads unless we had separate Maori and Pakeha roads. 
Hone Harawira 
: I tenei wiki i te ripoata o te Tari Tumuaki o te Mana Arotake “he ruarua noa iho nga kaimahi” o te Tari Kaitohutohu Kaupapa Rawa “kei a ratou nga momo matauranga Maori” a he aha aua momo matauranga? 
[An interpretation in English was given to the House.] 
[ 
What is the “particular expertise in Maori issues” that the Auditor-General’s report released this week identified “a few staff” in Treasury as having? 
]  
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN 
: The report identifies that Treasury does recognise issues in relation to Maori. It is now taking a more structured approach to engaging with Maori through to a more responsive policy statement plan in 2000 that has been implemented and subsequently revised. It manages its staff to try to recognise and to respond to issues for Maori.