Whaitiri MekaMEKA WHAITIRI (Labour—Ikaroa-Rāwhiti): Tēnā koe Mr Assistant Speaker. Otirā e ngā mema o Te Whare nei tēnā tātou katoa. For Māori this is the one percent Budget". Māori get only 1 percent of new spending thanks to a party that has only 1 percent support and whose time at the table has seen things get better for only the 1 percent. I am talking of course about the Māori Party the so-called independent voice for Māori.Budget 2017 is a let-down for Māori. Workers on the minimum wage—many of them Māori—will be better off by just $1 a week while the major investment comes in the form of nearly $800 million for prisons. It fails to deliver solutions to the housing crisis build affordable homes for first-home owners end homelessness fund our hospitals and school properties or address challenges around the environment and water quality. So much for the social investment model!Last night I received a post from the Hawke's Bay Samoan Rugby Sports Inc. along with the Hawke's Bay District Health Board and it said this: "Rheumatic fever awareness. Together with the Hawke's Bay DHB Hawke's Bay Samoan Rugby is raising awareness regarding rheumatic fever. Please family and friends if your child complains of a sore throat don't ignore. Take them to a doctor or nurse straight away. A sore throat can lead to rheumatic fever if left untreated. Rheumatic fever is very serious and can cause heart damage. Groups at much higher risk of rheumatic fever include Māori and Pacific children families living in crowded houses and children aged 4 to 19 years old who have grown up in high-risk areas such as Northland west Auckland and South Auckland the Bay of Plenty Tai Rāwhiti Hawke's Bay and Porirua."So what did this Government do in this Budget for rheumatic fever? It sliced the budget in half taking the $10 million investment down to $5 million—unbelievable.Māori housing gets only $17 million which buys 26 houses at the Government's affordable figure of $650000 per house. This funding is for the Māori Housing Network which in 2 years has built only 11 units—11 units. Twenty-five percent of all Māori live in Tāmaki-makau-rau but only 4 percent—4 percent—of Māori Housing Network funds have been spent there. This is not an effective programme for Māori.The figure allocated to the troubled Te Ture Whenua Māori reform in Budget 2017 will leave many many Māori land owners in limbo. This year Te Ture Whenua Māori reform received the paltry sum of less than $2 million in new money. That funding is to educate landowners or in other words persuade resistant Māori land owners that these highly unpopular reforms are in their best interests.The Minister for Māori Development has been talking up his $31 million for the Māori Land Service in the Budget but this is not new money. This is not new money. Still it is ridiculous that the Minister for Māori Development Te Ururoa Flavell has allocated $31 million for the Māori Land Service while his highly unpopular Te Ture Whenua Māori Bill is still going through the House. Bear in mind the Minister does not have a mandate from Māori. Bear in mind that all the top Māori land judges legal experts academics and institutions Māori land owners and the Waitangi Tribunal have been very clear in asking the Minister to put a hold on these reforms. And bear in mind that his reforms do not even address the critical barriers to land use.I think the Minister for Māori Development picked up a few too many bad habits from his mates in the National Government. Deny what the experts say—check. Ignore what people want—check. Push through flawed reforms because you have got the numbers in the House and that is all that matters—check.A couple of weeks ago our exciting Labour candidate for Waiariki Tāmati Coffey and I held huis on these reforms in the Minister's own home town of Rotorua. More than a hundred people packed out the Whakarewarewa Rugby Club and I can tell you they were amazed at hearing how the Minister is pushing through these reforms against the wishes of Māori. Like many Māori they have a lot of questions about this complex bill one of them being why the Minister himself has not held a hui in his own electorate to discuss the changes he has made to these reforms. But it is OK because the Labour Party has come to the rescue and kept his constituents informed.The Māori development allocation is largely a hodgepodge reorganisation of funds and repackaged programmes with an increasing number of low-funded programmes. I want to call it taking from Petera to pay Paora. There are things like $500 million towards new vans for kōhanga reo $1 million towards Māori health for a mobile clinic and a $10 million maintenance fund over 4 years to be spread over the country's 750 marae—that is $3300 per marae per year for 4 years. Of course extra resourcing for these areas is good but I doubt an increase in small-scale programmes can get meaningful results for Māori.So who misses out? When I look at the Minister's own figures in the Estimates Māori Wardens lose $1.178 million from last year's Budget to the next Budget. The Māori Women's Development Fund loses $1.86 million. Moving the Māori Nation—supporting Māori Culture and Sports loses $3.5 million and the New Zealand Māori Council loses just under $200000. It is no coincidence that announcing $6 million on kōhanga and a mobile clinic relates to the $6 million that has been removed from iconic Māori organisations like the Māori Women's Welfare League the New Zealand Māori Council and likewise.This is not a Budget that we should be celebrating for Māori. Te Puni Kōkiri should be monitoring and influencing other agencies to ensure better outcomes for Māori and ensuring fair access to Government programmes and services. For example the KiwiSaver HomeStart grant programme administered by Housing New Zealand is worth approximately $85 million per year. Would Māori not be better served by a ministry that ensures Māori access a fair share of that fund rather than a ministry that is promoting a range of eclectic low-funded programmes?After 9 years of National and the Māori Party Māori remain overrepresented in bad statistics for health homeownership and educational standards. This year alone my offices around Ikaroa-Rāwhiti have dealt with 50 homeless whānau sleeping either in garages or cars or in motels with many more needing housing assistance.Only a large-scale transformative policy will see things change in a meaningful way and that is why I am proud of what Labour is offering this year: KiwiBuild which will build 100000 homes over 10 years; refocusing Housing New Zealand on helping people and requiring all rental homes to be warm dry and healthy; having dedicated careers advice throughout a student's time at school; 3 years' free post-school education; the dole for apprenticeships—these are just some of Labour's policies that will make meaningful differences in the lives of Māori.A Māori development Minister from a minor party simply does not command the influence needed to get Māori a decent slice of the pie. Te Ururoa Flavell has shown in this Budget that it is OK for Māori to get crumbs.A Labour Government with an exciting array of Māori MPs and candidates who are likely to make up over 25 percent of the Labour caucus is something that we are offering that will make the real difference for our people come 23 September this year. It is important that our people register and vote and that is a change in the way that we can address Māori disparities which have clearly gone up under this National - Māori Party reign. It is time for change. Labour has got a bunch of fresh ideas and fresh people to take us into the next way forward. I say to our people vote Labour—vote a Government that will care about you. Kia ora tātou."