Okeroa Mahara: Budget Debate 
Okeroa Mahara: Budget Debate 
[Volume:626;Page:21066] 
MAHARA OKEROA (Labour—Te Tai Tonga) 
: 
 I rise with some dismay. I will read some quotations from a former Labour Government Minister who is now the leader of the Maori Party with regard to the Budget: “Tangata whenua have been snubbed.” Here is another quote: “Well they mention the word ‘Kiwi’ 26 times but we’re absolutely invisible in this Budget and this is a Government.” Further: “I try very hard to be respectful and not get into negative debate about the Government but I think the time has come for us to start speaking out about what is a very very clear trend from this Labour Government and the worst thing about it is those Maori members who are meant to represent our interests are going along with it.” Yeah right! 
Let me illustrate what I am trying to say. Let me take one of the major parts of our Budget which is education. We understand that education is the key to unlocking a better future for Maori. It is the first step in our progress through employment then to enterprise. So what do we have in this Budget? In early childhood education we are going to spend another $28.4 million to expand the early childhood education discretionary grant scheme. This will fund the building of 55 to 65 more community-based centres over the next 4 years in the areas of need. Are we going to benefit as Maori? Absolutely! What does it mean for Maori? It means that our children will get a better start in life. Our communities will become better equipped with education for our tamariki and 20 hours a week of free community-based early childhood education means that money is not an obstacle when educating our young. How innovative visionary and far-seeing! 
As part of that education package we are also going to invest in information technology. Next year the Government will invest nearly $60 million into information and communications technology in schools including more bilingual web-based resources. On top of that we are going to spend another $3.2 million over 4 years for WhakaaroMatauranga which will maintain the Te Mana information programme and increase the number of Maori liaison officers pouwhakataki working between the communities and the education sector. 
Even more so—and a lot of Maori teachers have really pushed for this one—teachers of Maori language will have more classroom release time to participate in professional development. Maori teachers become guidance counsellors career advisers sports managers and sports coaches—they become a person for every season as far as secondary school teaching is concerned—and this is a recognition of that. 
What about when they get to tertiary level? We are going to have a $57 million student support package that will give Maori further opportunities to participate in tertiary education. There is a new initiative as well. It is called the KapohiangaRawa programme and has funding of $14.8 million over 4 years for outreach and community workers to work with whanau to provide information and advice on education career planning financial management and housing. This programme will play a critical role in moving individuals and their whanau from dependency to development. 
What does it mean for Maori? It means that our teachers are able to get more time to undertake training to better their te reo skills and also to become better teachers. After all this Government at whatever level in education has a total commitment to quality of outcomes and that affects our children. 
I find a 5-minute speech quite bracing actually because when one breathes it is all over. However let me conclude in the last half-minute I have by saying that in my visits around the biggest electorate in New Zealand Te Tai Tonga southern Maori electorate the thinking people in our electorate want three things and they all start with “c”. One is consistency. They need consistency to have confidence that what we are doing in health education and other social indicators will continue; they want continuity of already established policies and practices; and finally they need to have confidence and that confidence is based on an inherent sense of political stability.