Korako Nuk: Annual Review Debate — In CommitteeText is subject to correctionKorako Nuk: Annual Review Debate — In Committee[Sitting date: 29 April 2015. Volume:704;Page:2977. Text is subject to correction.]NUK KORAKO (National):E te Kaiwhakahaere ka mihi. I know this is probably one of the final calls in this themed debate but I want to speak about Māori development and Treaty settlements. We have heard tonight—and in the last couple of days but particularly tonight—from my colleagues on the other side of the Chamber talking about the Ministry of Māori Development. A lot of that was very much around the glass being half empty. What I want to do is talk a little bit about Māori development.One thing that has stood out to me after going through the annual review of the Ministry of Māori Development was a lot of the initiatives that it is championing to build and strengthen the Māori economy. One example that it provided was the launch of the Māori Economic Development Strategy in the Bay of Plenty. This had been the culmination of 2 years of development with input from more than 200 iwi members and Māori business representatives. When you look at the Māori Business Facilitation Service it is out there supporting many of the initiatives like this one to promote Māori business growth such as the joint project in Te Wai Pounamu with Ngāi Tahu and also with the tertiary institutions in Dunedin.This Government is also promoting Māori science and innovation recently giving the Vision Mātauranga Capability Fund an extra boost of $1.9 million to that funding. The other thing is also to acknowledge the great work being done by organisations such as New Zealand Māori Tourism Council under the leadership of Pania Tyson-Nathan.It is clear that the ongoing development of the Māori economy is slowly but surely giving Māori the key to their own destiny. We often hear—and we do use this term—about Māori aspirations but it can mean different things to different people. To me when we talk about Māori aspirations it is a reflection of what matters to Māori and their whānau. It is about really holistic well-being. When an iwi can manage its own economy it has the ability to build its own platform to invest in its people and transform its aspirations into positive outcomes. In turn that builds strong whānau and strong communities.Over the last 2 days I have heard a litany from the other side of the Chamber in playing down the importance of economic development which would result in keeping more Māori dependent on the Government for their livelihood. On this side of the Chamber we say no to this sort of defeatist attitude. We have focused on economic growth over the last 6 years. As a result wages have gone up by 15 percent. We have focused on getting people off welfare and into work. That is why we now have 80000 people in jobs.But the growth of the Māori economy has the potential to benefit Māori even further through the settlement of historic Treaty claims. That is why it was so disheartening over the 9 long years of the Labour Government to see the settlement process all but stall. This Government has signed 47 deeds of settlement over the last 6 years. That is compared to a pitiful 16 signed by the Helen Clark Government when it was in office for 9 years. That is the statistic that really reflects that. It was a National Government that got settlements moving in the 1990s. Labour put the brakes on and so now under National things are moving fast forward very very quickly.The Māori economy continues to grow and it is growing very quickly under this Government’s programme of Treaty settlements. It is that growth along with the strong development in the rest of the economy that gives me much hope for the economic future for Māori. This Government has turned round an economy that was sinking under Labour.