te Heuheu Georgina:  Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
te Heuheu Georgina:  Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
[Volume:639;Page:9819] 
12.  
Hon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU (National) 
 to the  
Minister of Maori Affairs 
: How does he measure the success of the Maori Potential Approach? 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA (Minister of Maori Affairs) 
: 
 The Maori Potential Approach is about how Te Puni Kokiri thinks and about the approach it uses to prioritise all of its efforts. The basis for measuring Te Puni Kokiri’s effectiveness is described in its statement of intent; so are the outcome indicators that measure Maori success. Te Puni Kokiri will monitor Government contributions towards Maori success. 
Hon Georgina te Heuheu 
: Does the Minister count as one of the successes in terms of realising his Maori Potential Approach the fact that Maori unemployment has dropped more slowly than the drop for non-Maori with the result that almost 37 percent of people now on the unemployment benefit are Maori compared with just 31 percent when he first took over as Minister? 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA 
: If we move it back to the percentages let us remember that when we came in the unemployment rate was riding at 22 percent. That member is playing around with figures in different quantums. Right now more Maori are in work than there have ever been. The increase in the average income of Maori in the workforce is better than it has ever been. More Maori are getting degrees more Maori are owning their own businesses and more Maori children are in early childhood education. We are not a dependent people. More Maori are working with different skills and at different levels than ever occurred in the time that those people over there were in Government. 
Hon Georgina te Heuheu 
: How will the Government help Maori to realise their potential when it fails to address underlying issues recently identified by the World Health Organization in April this year such as a shorter life expectancy fewer disability-free years higher rates of preventable illness a poor prognosis for cancer and increasing school truancy rates for Maori? 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA 
: In relation to when we came into office dare I mention that this Government has been talking about arresting obesity—dare I mention those issues—and diabetes and everything else. We have made sure that schoolchildren are better fed more healthy and whatever else. Those issues have been around for a long long time. I also say there has been a dramatic decrease in health issues under the great effort of this Minister of Health Pete Hodgson. 
Hon Georgina te Heuheu 
: How can Maori trust a Minister who promised to close the gaps between Maori and non-Maori but who participated in cancelling the closing the gaps policy then tried to hide his failure by telling the House in August 2001 that internal reports on closing the gaps would continue although admitting in answer to a written question in April of this year—2007—that he has not received any such reports since May 2000 which is 15 months before he indicated that he was receiving some? 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA 
: It was Tau Henare who said he would close the gaps; it was us who picked it up. Let us get the story right. At the end of the day as we said in the select committee this morning when we first came into Government monitoring and evaluation were about blunt instruments like policing at the end of the activity. This ministry and this Government have ensured that we get in at the front end in the sense of developing the outcomes and making sure that a whole lot of the outcomes that are positive for Maori are recognised in this nation. 
Hon Georgina te Heuheu 
: I seek leave of the House to table a series of papers. The first one is a document showing Ministry of Social Development statistics that indicate that the gap between Maori and non-Maori is widening. 
Document by leave laid on the Table of the House.Ministry of Social Development 
Hon Georgina te Heuheu 
: I seek leave to table a paper referring to the World Health Organization report of 2007 that details inequalities among Maori communities. 
Document by leave laid on the Table of the House.World Health Organisation 
Hon Georgina te Heuheu 
: I seek leave to table a paper outlining a series of question and answers before the Maori Affairs Committee in August 2001 in which the Minister indicated he was receiving reports. 
Document by leave laid on the Table of the House.Maori Affairs Committee 
Hon Georgina te Heuheu 
: I seek leave to table an extract from  
Hansard 
 in 2007 with questions on closing the gaps and monitoring reports which shows that 15 months before the Minister said he was receiving them he was not. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: Leave is sought to table that document. Is there any objection? Yes there is objection.