Paraone Pita; Borrows ChesterPITA PARAONE (NZ First): Tēnā koe Mr Deputy Speaker. I want to preface my comments by reminding those members on the other side who refer to New Zealand First as supporting the Budget—what I want to clarify for them is that what we did support was the legislation that raised the tax thresholds and made a contribution to the accommodation supplements. We did not and do not support the Budget.In fact the Minister for Māori Development waxed lyrical on the amount of funding that the Māori Party has been responsible for having allocated to those programmes that the Māori Party supports. He made the comment that the figure was in the vicinity of $2 billion. I want to ask the question then: if that is correct—and I am not doubting its validity—why is it that in this day and age in June 2017 the non - social performance of Māori is one of the major issues affecting the Māori community? In fact it is common amongst the general public of New Zealand but for Māori there just does not seem to be any social performance in terms of where they are on the economic ladder.The Māori Party made reference to the fact that it had this housing programme and our research shows that it has provided only 11 new homes. Now I am talking about new homes; I am not talking about the funding that it was able to get from this Budget and previous Budgets to upgrade some of the conditions of the present accommodation. But be that as it may Māori are at the bottom of the homeownership list they are at the bottom of the health statistics they are at the bottom of the employment figures and they are at the bottom of the health statistics that are a real problem for this country. Whatever the Government may say about its Budget this is purely a Budget aimed at 23 September of this year and I have no doubt that as we get closer to that date the Government will offer more inducements" to try to retain its position on that side of the House.After 9 years with the Māori Party and National joined at the hip what do we have in Budget 2017? We have a total of $93 million that upon closer examination just does not stack up. What does this Budget give for hard-working minimum-wage Māori? One dollar a week. However at least all other New Zealanders are in the same position—they get one dollar a week as well. This is your social investment!What about housing? We keep on hearing about the success of the Māori Housing Network. What success? Eleven houses have been built—and they want to throw more money at it. Talking about throwing money at Māori Party programmes I want to make reference to Whānau Ora. How many years has Whānau Ora been operating? This Budget throws more money at it and yet they have not been able to provide a way of assessing the success or otherwise of that programme. I think that if it were any other programme people would be asking questions not least of all the Government. But because it is the Māori Party and because that is its flagship programme—no questions asked. I think it is a poor indictment on how funding can be made available in order to retain your position in Government.This Budget does not engender any confidence not with $1 million given to the Waka Oranga bus to drive around the Mātaatua and East Coast regions looking for sick people to heal; not with $4 million given to young Māori to get birth certificates and passports—Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: I am sorry to interrupt the member but his time has expired."