Paraone Pita: Budget Debate 
Paraone Pita: Budget Debate 
[Volume:626;Page:21083] 
PITA PARAONE (NZ First) 
: 
 I rise to speak on behalf of New Zealand First—of course the only politically non-aligned party in this House—and to comment on the impact or lack of impact this Budget will have on Maori. 
In the speech from the Minister of Finance there was not one mention of Maori. In his previous five Budget speeches almost every other sentence referred to Maori. One cannot be surprised if Maori feel aggrieved and left out. Despite a lot of rhetoric and jargon about improving outcomes for Maori and realising Maori potential the sad fact is that in the crucial areas of health housing education and employment this Budget will deliver very little direct benefit for them. New initiatives such as KapohiangaRawa are all very well and good but not if they come at the expense of delivery of health services or the provision of housing. 
This year’s Budget shows a decrease in funding for Maori health from last year’s Budget so I fail to see how it will contribute to improved health outcomes for Maori. For patients visiting general practitioners mental health problems are more common among Maori than non-Maori according to a recent University of Otago study. The researchers concluded that effective interventions need to explicitly address mental health and that ethnicity needs to be taken into account in the way that those interventions are designed and delivered. I do not see how reducing the funding for Maori health will enable effective management of this problem or indeed Maori health outcomes in general. Despite several years of programmes such as closing the gaps and “reducing inequalities” Maori health status remains considerably lower than that of non-Maori across a range of health indicators including life expectancy. 
Maori are concentrated in lower-paid occupations. The country is currently enjoying a relatively low rate of unemployment but the Maori rate of unemployment is more than double that of non-Maori and Maori continue to be disproportionately involved in the criminal justice system. None of this is news to anyone yet the Budget does nothing to address those serious problems. The Government has continually extolled the point that Maori unemployment is at a record low due to its efforts. I suppose that that is true when one considers that many have been placed into lower-paid jobs or even moved to another benefit. Of course we know the real reason for the reduction and that is that Maori have gone off to Australia to better wages and living conditions. Just ask the Maori Party! I suggest to the Maori Labour members that their constituents will remember this in the next few weeks. 
Where is the foresight that this Labour Government so prides itself on? Where is the vision from a Government that takes pride in striving to eliminate the disparities between Maori and non-Maori? Where is the money to achieve those lofty goals? That is the vinegar question. The answer is not in this Budget. The only targeted Maori spending is for the provision of liaison services and community workers to amongst other things encourage Maori into tertiary education. New Zealand First sees education as the way forward for Maori but let us not forget that tertiary education in this country comes at a very high financial cost. It is rather remiss to spend money encouraging Maori into tertiary study without also addressing the affordability problems that they will surely encounter. 
Too many Maori are living in substandard housing and I do not see much in this Budget to address that. It is all very well to encourage people to save for a house but there are a couple of glaring problems with that approach. One is that the price of housing is way out of reach for people on low and even middle incomes. No matter how much out of their pay packet they try to put away the price of housing just keeps running ahead of them and they have very little hope of catching up. That is reflected in the low uptake of the Government’s much-lauded mortgage insurance scheme of 2 years ago whereby no-deposit loans would be given on houses worth up to $100000. Excuse me but has anyone in the Government checked the price of real estate lately? One would be hard-pressed to find a tin shack in Auckland or Wellington for that price. The Jobs Jolt programme makes it a waste of time buying in the only areas where people might possibly qualify for that scheme. Secondly Maori are concentrated in low-paying jobs that barely pay the bills as it is. Members should try supporting a family and saving money on under $30000 a year. 
During last year’s Budget debate much was said about the anticipated Hui Taumata.