12. Māori Development—Inequality Economic and SocialPEENI HENARE (Labour—Tāmaki Makaurau) to the Minister for Māori DevelopmentMāori Development—Inequality Economic and Social12. PEENI HENARE (Labour—Tāmaki Makaurau) to the Minister for Māori Development: Does he believe that the lives of Māori have improved during his time as Minister for Māori Development?Hon TE URUROA FLAVELL (Minister for Māori Development): Ā tēnā koe i tēnā pātai āe.[Thank you for that question and yes.]Peeni Henare: How comfortable does he feel about the average Māori having one-fifth of the wealth of the average Pākehā under his watch and his having no plan to address this?Hon TE URUROA FLAVELL: There is a plan and there have been a number of those enunciated throughout the country. Indeed He Kai Kei Āku Ringa is part of that planning towards dealing with those issues. The Tāmaki-makau-rau Māori economy for example is pretty substantial at about $3 billion to $4 billion GDP and $23 billion in assets which is more than half of the national Māori asset base by value. That is why we have very much focused—in terms of my portfolios as well—on things like improving land productivity employability and skills in the regions with a clear focus on Māori enterprise. I was really pleased for example to attend the Kai Kei Āku Ringa hui in Tāmaki on Friday and we had huge support from employers from iwi and from the council to deal with those issues that the member just talked about.Peeni Henare: How would he characterise the success of his economic policies given that the wage gap between Māori and European populations has grown and now stands at $213 a week?Hon TE URUROA FLAVELL: There are a number of measures and I will take just one of those mentioned by Mr English and by the Prime Minister earlier. If we take for example the desire for this Government to move those children not in employment or education and youth not in any sort of training whatsoever what we know is that in South Auckland for example the number of neets" aged between 20 and 24 has actually dropped over the last year. There are also fewer Māori "neets" across the country than in December 2012 and that shows that we are making good progress. There are always things we can do better but we are making good progress. We must continue to focus on the best outcomes for Māori and that is what I have been doing in my 2 years as Minister for Māori Development.Peeni Henare: How comfortable does he feel about the fact that there are 9000 more Māori unemployed since his Government took office?Hon TE URUROA FLAVELL: Well we are doing absolutely everything we can to address that. I will take just one example to help the member. We know that 42000 many of whom are Māori are currently in apprenticeships and training. After today's announcement by my colleague Minister Joyce of $183 million for work-based training the Government is now on track to actually achieve its target of 50000 by 2017; that is a part of the planning I referred to earlier. That member knows that apprenticeships and training are a proven way to get people into lifelong career options—and again it is a good outcome.David Seymour: What role does primary and secondary education play in labour productivity and ultimately wages for Māori?Hon TE URUROA FLAVELL: Very important—very important. In fact we are very focused on the achievement rates for Māori and they are actually rising faster than any other ethnicity in the world. The rate was 45 percent of NCEA level 2 in 2008; it is now 71 percent—71 percent. So for example part of that has been because of the educational achievement of kura hourua. If I could just quote the rates for Te Kura Hourua o Whangarei Terenga Parāoa: 70 percent at NCEA level 1 92 percent at level 2 and 71 percent at level 3. Those results are all about Māori educational achievement."