Fox Marama: Budget DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeFox Marama: Budget Debate[Sitting date: 27 May 2015. Volume:705;Page:4037. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]MARAMA FOX (Co-Leader—Māori Party): Kia ora Mr Speaker. Since last week we have been debating the Budget and as we did so there was a very important gathering of people who were meeting in Rotorua at a hui entitled Tūramarama ki te Ora. It is a most inspired name not just because it has part of my name in it. It is a most inspired name a name meaning the spark of enlightenment the lightning flash the epiphany when one’s purpose in life is realised. The agenda for that hui could be perceived as a heavy one: the national suicide prevention conference. In so far as it relates to our Budget discussion I am absolutely certain that they celebrated the $2.1 million of new operating funding for suicide prevention tagged for rangatahi Māori. Here I just want to make a point. Last night as I listened to the member Mr Pita Paraone talk about—Pita Paraone: It was a good speech.MARAMA FOX: That is right. He gave a speech blaming the Māori Party for youth suicide—blaming the Māori Party for youth suicide! I just want you to know that this is not a topic that should be treated lightly and with disdain in the way that I believe it was last evening. This is a very serious topic a topic that brought a whole community of people together. It is something that we have been delighted to support in the past years and continue to support.In all the big numbers that have been talked about recently that number—$2.1 million in new spending for rangatahi to help halt the march of suicide where our young people choose to end their lives instead of living their reality—is not something to be dismissed and thrown about as some sort of political gamble some sort of political leverage to try to get brownie points with the public. It must be addressed and we are proud to be addressing it.I want to tell you this. The Government came and said: “Marama you have to choose. We can’t get the 50 things that you want in a Budget bid.” and I did have about 50 different bids that I wanted to put in front of the Government. I was told: “Marama you have to choose.” In fact we whittled it down and whittled it down and came down to our utmost four priorities. And the Government said: “Of these Marama which one do you want?”. The answer surely is simple. I chose to help save the lives of our children through providing for suicide prevention funding.Earlier this year I spent some time with one such group. Youth worker Zack Makaore has with Te Taitimu Trust developed a project that builds the wairua—that is the spirit—and the confidence of the young people he works with. For these rangatahi poverty is not so much about the material things as it is about the deficiency in opportunity and resources and the poverty of spirit. Te Taitimu Trust works with these young people bringing their families together—families from all walks of life including gang families—with police with Water Safety New Zealand and with the Fire Service. They learn how to save their lives learn how to give comfort and learn how to be leaders based on the teachings of Mason Durie. They are also building resilience whakapapa leadership and self-esteem. I want to say again this is not something to be used as political leverage; it is a real issue that needs to be addressed and we are proud to be able to put some funding though it is small towards addressing it.Of course we are delighted that we have been able to accelerate the momentum of Whānau Ora through the navigator approach with whānau being enabled to help themselves through designing and developing the transformation that all of our families deserve. What has been even more compelling for us as a party is the effort we have put into establishing $790 million in the hardship fund. We are proud of this Government and our opportunity to work with it to put poverty on the lips of the people of this country.To be sure in 2008 when Tariana Turia when Hone Harawira when Te Ururoa Flavell when Rahui Katene and when Pita Sharples signed the Māori Party relationship accord with this Government people were not talking about it and in fact there is a paragraph in the very first relationship accord with this Government that says: “Eliminating poverty must be a priority.” Then in 2011 they signed the next relationship accord and they put together a Ministerial Committee on Poverty where all the relevant Ministers sat around the table and discussed how we could put an end to poverty. It was put into the relationship accord. It is part of the Māori Party’s commitment to our whānau.We are proud to be able to put our hands on our hearts and say: “Yes that $790 million is a result of influence from being at the table and not under the table—not eating the crumbs.” Those are some fairly expensive crumbs if that is what people believe. In 43 years people can look back over that time and see that during an equal amount of time—almost perfectly equal—both sides of the House did nothing to raise benefit levels. So again we are proud that there is an opportunity to do so through having a relationship accord with this Government.However in the swings and roundabouts in the game that we call politics we are only too familiar with the fact that despite the undeniable positive impact of that package there is a quid pro quo in National’s imposing stricter obligations on sole parents—we recognise that—who will now be required to return to work 2 years earlier and for longer hours. The rationale is that part-time work brings more income into the family and we agree with that. It is a stepping stone to full-time work and to going off the benefit altogether. There is also an equally valid argument to be made that a parent who wants to be at home is on economic social and cultural grounds the best person to raise their child.There is a particularly interesting blog called Sacraparental which tells us it is about the sacred practice of parenting. It outlines possible strategies that might prevent the punitive consequences of this policy causing harm to families. These include the following: the test that Work and Income applies to all decisions needs to be in the best interest of the child and all workplaces should have modern flexible attitudes to the needs of working parents. Some parents work at night I have a sister-in-law who takes a job at 2 o’clock in the morning while her husband is at home. They barely see each other because they take turns in providing the parental responsibility needed while they do that. People in this position would be much better off financially.I cannot emphasise how important it is that the investment approach is evenly applied to the effects of the Budget changes. For a family with small children relying on income support is stressful enough without adding the compulsory work requirement to their obligations. It is also to be said that the financial benefit for a family in meeting these new obligations can be negligible especially when you add in travel and childcare costs. For this purpose the increase to childcare provision is absolutely on the button and we applaud that step.I want to return to one of the themes of the suicide prevention conference that occurred in Rotorua. Ko te piko o te māhuri tērā te tipu o te rākau—a small sapling being well nurtured will grow into a strong tree. As has been talked about we know that we need to provide support for our most vulnerable families at an early age from the birth of the child or in fact from before the birth of the child. If the mother of an unborn child is put under undue stress we know through the Brainwave Trust that the brain development of that unborn child is stagnated. We know that when the child comes into the world and is put under stress through poverty and the stresses of hardship brain development is further stagnated.We need to alleviate poverty. We need to eliminate poverty and it takes nothing more than a “coalition of the willing”. It is not just a whole-of-Government approach but it is a whole-of-population approach. We need to take the steps and I am proud of this Government for taking those steps. They are not first steps—and I know my speaking time is just about up—but are part of suite of things like KickStart Breakfast for children free doctors visits for under-13s Computers in Homes paying attention to rheumatic fever and an extension to paid parental leave. All of these things come as a consequence of the Ministerial Committee on Poverty. It is not the solution; it is just relief for our whānau who suffer hardship and for those reasons I am proud to be part of this Government in a relationship accord that can bring relief to our whānau.