Fox Marama: Urgent Debates — Whānau Ora—Auditor-General’s ReportText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeFox Marama: Urgent Debates — Whānau Ora—Auditor-General’s Report[Sitting date: 06 May 2015. Volume:705;Page:3246. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]MARAMA FOX (Co-Leader—Māori Party):Whānau Ora is an approach to help families and whānau in need. It is radical. I heard the Hon Annette King question what is so radical about it. I will tell you what is radical about it. What is radical about it is that in fact Mr Rurawhe was talking about Labour wanting to do something that would bring an integrated approach to supporting whānau but it did not actually do anything. So on one hand Labour wants to criticise Whānau Ora and on the other hand it wants to claim that it was its idea which I find quite remarkable.In fact this was not our idea. This has nothing to do with Tariana; she did not dream this up. In fact she says in her own words that Whānau Ora is from Māori. It is a Māori concept for Māori people by Māori—for Māori and ultimately for all of Aotearoa New Zealand. This is about value being added to this country based on a kaupapa Māori perspective. Should we claim it in the Government? Is it wrong to claim kaupapa Māori ideas? Why? Because they do not work? They do work and 45000 New Zealanders in this country have had the benefit of Whānau Ora—yes up and down the East Coast because yes there are Whānau Ora providers on the East Coast and yes in the far north.I was invited to the far north to launch a Whānau Ora initiative that saw Pasifika whānau and Māori whānau come together. Are we in the Māori Party dealing with Pasifika needs not just those of Māori? Yes we are. That is the Whānau Ora provision called The Fono and it has put Whānau Ora providers in the far north. Whānau Ora has benefited people and everybody has said that. On one hand they talk about how wonderful these navigators are who go out around the country and support whānau to transform their lives and to go from being dependent on Government services to being independent and realising their dreams and aspirations. Yes the catchcry for Whānau Ora is “Dream it plan it live it.” Nobody has criticised that because that cannot be criticised.Whānau Ora navigators are doing good work but what is the response from the Opposition when the approach gets criticised? It says “Oh let’s cut it. Let’s just cut it. Let’s throw those families back on to the heap and let’s not give them some provision.” When the services that are currently out there try to deliver services to whānau—Carmel Sepuloni: We didn’t say cut it; we said cut the spending but don’t cut the programme.MARAMA FOX: You know and I know Ms Sepuloni. You know—excuse me. Ms Sepuloni may know although she may be having trouble grasping this that when there is an issue Child Youth and Family rings Whānau Ora navigators. When there is an issue Ministry of Social Development staff ring Whānau Ora navigators. Why? Because they have success and this programme has success.In fact I sat in on a Whānau Ora hui with young men who otherwise would have been tossed on the heap young men who had been referred for support because they were being thrown out of school. They were sons of gang members and were getting into trouble. They were on the borderline of being thrown into jail. Instead what did they do? They went to Whānau Ora providers who turned their lives round. I watched as 17-year-old hardened young men softened their hearts enough to ring their fathers and organise father-son dates. That is what they called it—their words not my words. They spent time connecting with their whānau with their mothers turning their lives round. They went from having no hope to having a future where they could see themselves with bright and prosperous aspirational gains they never thought were available to them before.Yes we need to strengthen Whānau Ora. We could take the $300 million that other services get and put that in Whānau Ora and build the infrastructure but to say that the policy is flawed—the implementation may be flawed but these things are being worked on and that is what we have been doing from the moment we stepped into this building.Whānau Ora is the way of the future. People all over the world have been asking us to tell them how this works because before this time people only spoke about it. I sat in a meeting in about 2002 and listened to people talk about how we could come together as providers and support whānau. Well this is it and it is not about the individual; it is about whānau. Kia ora.