Awatere Huata Donna: General Debates 
Awatere Huata Donna: General Debates 
[Volume:616;Page:11735] 
DONNA AWATERE HUATA (Independent) 
: 
 I do not believe that Dr Don Brash has any idea of the impact that his statements have had on Maori and on New Zealand. I do not think he nor senior members of the National Party have any idea of what they have done. I am of that generation as the member is over here that has lived amongst the stench of racial hatred—and I am going back 30 years. For the past 30 years I have watched with some relief that stench evaporate. But I believe that now we are seeing a re-emergence. My children who have never experienced that hatred are now for the first time seeing that that shadow of hatred has crept into their lives. I for one am deeply deeply sorry for that because when I look at the policies that Dr Brash offers I believe they offer true hope for Maori—they really do. I want to mention four of them. 
The first is school choice. Before we had zoning 33 percent of Maori moved from their zone—from their decile area—into a high decile area. They actually went to better schools. That option has now been cut off at the knees. They are stuck where they are living. Bulk funding gave principals the opportunity of catering for individual children’s needs. They have had that removed from them now. Maori children who benefited under bulk funding have had that option of advancement taken away from them. 
There is also the matter of literacy teaching. The way we teach literacy at the moment is race based because the methods used benefit Pakeha and disadvantage Maori. What I have heard from Dr Brash is that he will declare war on that kind of race-based literacy teaching. Then we will not need the need silly courses now proliferating into Maori communities. Really tackling—really tackling—the issues that affect the Maori community in literacy is what I look to him for leadership on. 
I also look to him for leadership on doing away with the National Certificate of Educational Achievement. We heard today from the New Zealand Qualifications Authority that Maori achievement on National Certificate of Educational Achievement is nothing like what they told us it would be 4 and 3 years ago. The results are impoverished. Maori achievement is not down but it certainly is not what we had hoped for and I hope Don Brash will do something about that. He will make a tremendous contribution to Maori educational achievement. If only he would just stick to that and tell us about those kinds of things. What he is doing now and what he has done by giving his Orewa speech is basically give permission for bureaucrats to run for cover. He has unleashed the dogs of war. He has unleashed a groundswell of hatred the likes of which I have not seen for the last 10 years. I give members one small example. 
Today an innocuous little organisation called HortResearch came before my select committee. Every year it has come before us for the past 7 years I have been asking whether it is an organisation that exists only for Pakeha because one would think so. There is no Maori senior management no Maori strategy no Maori staff and no attempt to lift the achievement of Maori land. At the end of the day it is Maori who own that undeveloped land and it is Maori land that the Maori economic commission told us many years ago has potential for economic development that has been completely unrealised. Finally 2 years ago this little organisation got its act together and developed a Maori business strategy. Finally it will do something to leash and grab hold of the potential for development on those lands. What do we have now? It is running for cover. It is saying it has no strategy to bridge the gap. It has nothing for bridging the gap between Maori and non-Maori achievement on land development. It is basically running for cover. 
We see that all over the place. We saw it at a health hui I was at the other day. The health bureaucrats are running for cover. We have spent 20 years building up capacity in the Maori health sector only to see it beginning to crumble before our very eyes over the last 3 months. Judith Collins speaking in this House on a health bill asked what would we do for cancer in Maori women which is six times the non-Maori rate. At the rate this National Opposition is going it will tear down all of those brilliant initiatives that we Maori and Pakeha have built over the past few years. I think that is a tragedy. 
Another example is that my kura kaupapa have been waiting for 5 years to get our building. My children travel for an hour and a half to and from school every day. Now the Ministry of Education is dragging its feet. Why is that? Because Don Brash has given it permission to go back to the attitudes of 20 and 30 years ago—that being Maori does not matter and that: “If you are kura and Maori just wait your time.” To Don Brash for that I say: “Shame on you! You should stick to your knitting and do what you can do well.” 
The debate having concluded the motion lapsed.