Tirikatene RinoMāori Affairs SectorCHAIRPERSON (Hon Ruth Dyson): Members I understand that the responsible Minister is available to speak to the Votes in Māori affairs sector volume (B.5 Volume 8). The question is that Vote Māori Development and Vote Treaty Negotiations stand part of the Schedules.RINO TIRIKATENE (Chairperson of the Māori Affairs Committee): Thank you Madam Chair. Tēnā koe e Te Whare. I am pleased to speak on Vote Māori Development for the 2020-21 Estimates debate. I would like to acknowledge the members of the Māori Affairs Committee for examining the Estimates. The committee has recommended that the Estimates for the appropriations for Vote Māori Development be accepted by the House. Can I acknowledge the Ministers—the Hon Nanaia Mahuta Minister for Māori Development and the Hon Peeni Henare the Minister responsible for Whānau Ora—for appearing before our committee. We gave a thorough consideration to the Estimates.The Estimates for Māori appropriations focused around Te Puni Kōkiri and the work that it does both as a departmental ministry in its policy work and its regional presence right across Aotearoa and also the non-departmental appropriations which Te Puni Kōkiri administers which are moved out through Whānau Ora commissioning agencies and various other entities such as in the Te Reo Māori space. These are very high-performing entities. I want to commend the work that they are doing.The big focus of the appropriations this year was obviously the response to COVID19. We heard that Te Puni Kōkiri along with the Whānau Ora agencies were very active among the Māori communities and ensuring especially when we were in alert levels 3 and 4 some tremendous work that was going on regionally through those entities and pushed right through into Māori communities. So we want to commend the work that was undertaken with the leadership of Te Puni Kōkiri through that period. But the work doesn't stop there.So for the appropriations there is a significant $281 million appropriation which goes across Vote Māori Development as a whole. There is in addition to that through the COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund additional funding. So in sum for 202021 over $300 million is appropriated for Vote Māori Development and that is money that is being well spent and very carefully managed through Te Puni Kōkiri.One of the commendable aspects of the appropriations is the consolidation of many of what were a whole lot of different smaller programmes or appropriations being consolidated into one into a larger programme which has given Te Puni Kōkiri a lot more focus across a smaller number of bigger areas. So that was commended by the committee in particular the strength and focus of Te Puni Kōkiri in being a leader in policy development and being well connected through Māori communities up and down the country and being able to use the data the relationships that Te Puni Kōkiri has to really be a leader in promoting Māori policy. That has been given extra strength through the Budget and through these appropriations.Just turning to the Whānau Ora side whilst it's not captured in this 2020-21 Estimates the Supplementary Estimates that will come will include a massive $136 million extra appropriation for Whānau Ora. That is hugely significant and that will be focused on working intensively with whānau to help deal with the impacts both near term and longer term around COVID-19. We know that the impacts of that are being heavily felt across Māori communities Māori whānau through industries such as tourism and in the regions—those that are heavily impacted. And Māori are no different. Likewise they're big contributors across the economic space and that extra money through Whānau Ora over the out years and also the extra money that is happening this year is going to be able to support and continue the good work that is happening across the Whānau Ora space.So with that I do commend these Estimates and the good work of the Ministers to the House.