Whaitiri MekaMEKA WHAITIRI (Labour—Ikaroa-Rāwhiti): Tēnā koe Mr Chair. E ngā mema o Te Whare nei tēnā tātou katoa. I am happy to take a call on the 2017 Estimates for Vote Māori Development. Before I start can I just acknowledge what a historic day today is. We have not had a woman leader of a major political party since 2008. I want to congratulate Jacinda and I also want to congratulate Kelvin Davis the first Māori deputy leader of a party.Women voters and Māori voters up and down this country will acknowledge the great decision that Labour has done. I come into this Chamber as a proud representative of Ikaroa-Rāwhiti. I stand on the shoulders of great men like Tāreha Te Moananui Hēnare Tomoana A T Ngata and Parekura Horomia. Why I mention those particular rangatira is because whenua was very important to them. It was also very important that they came to this House to talk and advocate for the rights of Māori people.So to the Estimates. I am glad that I followed on from the member Shane Reti who just resumed his seat who talked about an increase in the Budget. Let us put the facts on the table. In Budget 2017 Vote Māori Development went up not by 1 percent; it went up by 0.6 percent—0.6 percent from $310 million to $312 million in the Estimates. That is an increase of 0.6 percent. This is not a Budget for Māoridom given that it is facing the severe impact of homelessness in this country. The people who I see when I drive up and down my electorate particularly around Marine Parade—and you can see them in the cars in the vans any time after 10 p.m. in all the car-parks where people normally used to go for other activities along Marine Parade; they are actually living there. That is what has happened under this Government.The Minister for Māori Development in his contribution quite rightly said: Well there is no silver bullet to housing." He said there is no silver bullet and that it is not his Ministry's responsibility to find housing. But at the very least he is at the table with this Government. What has happened to the advocacy of the Minister for Māori Development to speak up for those many Māori around the country who cannot get on the waiting list who are left homeless? What has happened to that? That is the question that I would like to propose to the Minister in his defence of this Budget.Let us look at some of the facts. The Māori Housing Network in 2015 despite spending over $37 million has completed only 11 houses to code compliance—$37 million and 11 homes. But the real story around this country—if many of the National MPs will come to visit any of our offices—is that there are so many people who cannot even get on the waiting list. So our waiting lists in small provincial towns are growing but what about those who cannot even get on the waiting list?In the time I have got left I do want to address Te Ture Whenua Māori Bill which the Minister talked about. He carries on misrepresenting his rounds of consultation. The actual draft was tabled in June 2015. What the Minister fails to acknowledge is the multiple changes he has made to a considerable and significant piece of land legislation and he has done it outside of the scrutiny of the Māori Affairs Committee. He has made 70 changes that he forgets to tell New Zealanders and landowners about which he has done without the proper scrutiny.My colleague Peeni Henare has spoken about the enormous opposition to that piece of legislation but the Māori Land Service is a cornerstone of those reforms. In its report to the Government which the Minister had in April Treasury said that it was not prepared because there was no business case put up and there were a whole lot of gaps in his planning. This shows that the Minister is so out of touch with something as enormous as Māori land reform and that his Ministry has not been backing him up and so Māori land owners out there are absolutely confused as to what is happening next.This bill is a dog—I am talking about Te Ture Whenua Māori Bill. Māori do not want it. The Māori Land Service is completely a failure and it should not proceed."