Harawira Hone: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
Harawira Hone: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
[Volume:632;Page:4341] 
HONE HARAWIRA (Maori Party—Te Tai Tokerau) 
: 
 Tena koe. Tena tatou te Whare. Na te panuitanga i te ripoata tautikanga ora ka marama te ahua o nga tari toko i te ora i raro i tenei Kawanatanga. Kia mohio ai tatou—kua rahi ake mai i te 7 o-rau i te tau 2000 ki te 27 o-rau i te tau 2004 nga Maori e noho ana ki te pohara rawa. A ko a tatou whanaunga o Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa kua rahi ake mai i te 15 o-rau ki 27. Ko nga whanau kei te tino raru ko ratou me o ratau tamariki kei te penihana. E te iwi—30 o-rau wa tatau tamariki kei te “pohara rawa” atu. Tangi ana te ngakau i tenei tu ahuaranga. E taka haere ana nga tautikanga ora mo te pani me te rawakore a ko te Kawanatanga ka noho ka titiro noa iho. Hara tenei i te pohara noa iho he rawakore me tona tahuhu korero.  
I a tatau e wananga ana i nga kaupapa whakapakari tangata me huri me aro ki nga akonga o nehera. I timata ai nga tikanga toko i te ora hei penihana kaumatua i te tau 1898. Ko era kahore i awhinatia ko te pohara te koretake te haurangi te paruparu me te taurekareka. Ko te tino pohara kua warewaretia. 
I whakauruhia e te kawanatanga “nga tikanga Maori” ki nga ture tuku penihana kia kaua e whanui atu te penihana ki te Maori. Kahore te ture whakahirahira o aua ra ara ko te Ture Putea Toko i te Ora o te tau 1938 i whakatinana ai nga painga ki te Maori. Kei kona tonu te rereketanga o nga utu penihana ki te Maori me te Pakeha. Na tera ka hangaia e Eruera Tirikatene tetahi ope kia haere ki te Minita mo Nga Penihana hei tautohe i nga mahi takatakahi i nga Maori. I korero ia mo te Pa o Ratana—ka riro e nga Pakeha te katoa o te penihana a he iti noa iho te utu ki te Maori. 
Engari ko te kaupapa a tauiwi ko rereke—ko to tatau iwi Maori kei waho tonu. A pera i enei ra ko nga tangata kei a ratau nga rawa ka hanga keti i mua i o ratau whare me te panui “kia noho atu ki waho”. Ngari hakoa te aha he iwi pakari to tatau iwi Maori. E orite ana ki te marama—hakoa ka ngaro ka ara mai ano.  
Na te Roopu Wahine Maori Toko i Te Ora i maranga ai tatau i te tau 1951 a ko nga korero whakamiharo i runga i a ratau mo nga mahi i waenganui i nga Maori o aua ra. I toro ake o ratau awhina ki te pani me te rawakore a na te werawera o o ratau rae ka rewa ake te tautikanga ora. I a ratou ripoata ka tuhia nga ahua whakaiti i te tangata; ka ki ratou “90 o-rau o aua ra 
  
ehara na aua tangata te raruraru engari na wahi ke atu.” 
Ko tetahi o nga mahi tuatahi i mahi na Whina he tirohanga ki te ahua o nga whare i Tamaki kei reira nga Maori e noho ana ka kitea he kainga koretake. Ma te kaha o Te Roopu Wahine Maori ka whakaae Te Kaunihera o Tamaki kia turakina aua kainga koretake kia hangaia nga whare pai mo te Maori. Koia nei nga tahuhu korero mo nga mahi toko i te ora. 
I kotia tuturutia e Nahinara nga penihana i te tau 1991 hakoa te tini o nga pohara. Mai i taua wa kua piki ake te putea mo te awhi pohara mai i te 5 miriona taara ki te 10 miriona i tenei wa. He korero ta tenei? Me wakama tatou ki te nui o tenei pohara roto i a tatou ano. Ko te kaupapa “Mahi ana mo nga Whanau” i wehewehe ano ra i te tu o te pohara ki te iwi kei a ratau nga rawa. Kua whakarerea ki muri nga whanau tino pohara. 
Ma tatou o te Paremata e whakatika nga takanga he o nga tikanga i whakaritea mo nga kaupapa toko i te ora. Me tautoko nga whanau me nga tamariki i nga wa pohara me nga wa e kore mahi ana nga matua. Koia nei nga kaupapa o te tautoko i te whanau. Ma te iwi ano e rapa tona whakamaramatanga. Kia ora tatau katoa. 
[An interpretation in English was given to the Committee.] 
[ 
Greetings to you. Greetings to the House. The living standards report released last week reveals the true picture of the state of social services under this Labour Government. Let us recall: the proportion of Maori living in severe hardship rose from 7 percent in 2000 to 17 percent in 2004. The proportion of Pasifika persons living in severe hardship rose from 15 percent to 27 percent. The state of the nation means particular strife for income-tested beneficiary families with dependent children. More than 30 percent of beneficiary children are in “severe hardship”. These results make me weep. The living standards of our most vulnerable are lurching dangerously into deprivation while the Government sits and watches. This is poverty in its worst extreme poverty which is indeed making history for all the wrong reasons. 
And when we are considering social development it is important to pay heed to history. The social welfare system started in 1898 as an old-age pension. This system though discriminated against the poor the undeserving the drunk the dirty and the immoral. Many poor people were ignored.  
For Maori “native custom” criteria were included in pension entitlement and became a basis for restricting Maori pensions. The famed Social Security Act 1938 failed to bring immediate benefit payments to Maori; clear-cut differences in benefit rates between Maori and Pakeha were maintained leaving Eruera Tirikatene to lead a deputation to the Minister of Social Security to protest against the victimisation of Maori. He talked of Ratana Pa—describing Europeans who lived in the pa as receiving the full benefit while Maori were on reduced rates. 
The so-called civilised social security system discriminated. And people our people were locked out as in today’s times where people of privilege build gates around their residences that say “keep out”. But our people are nothing if not resilient and like the moon that disappears and rises again we rose again no matter what the adversity. 
We rose in the form of the *Maori Women's Welfare League which at its time of establishment in 1951 was commended for its vigour in attacking the social welfare problems of contemporary Maori. Its welfare work extended to giving aid to members and others in need providing practical help to improve the standard of their living. In its reports the league recognised the stigma attached to a low standard of living stating: “Ninety percent of the time the causes lie beyond the control of the people concerned.” 
One of the league’s first initiatives instigated by Whina was a survey of Maori housing in Auckland revealing insanitary dwellings. It led the Auckland City Council and the Department of Maori Affairs to demolish slums and provide a higher quota of State and council houses for Maori tenants. This is our history of social services. 
Benefit rates were slashed in 1991 by the National Government. Huge numbers of beneficiaries became increasingly dependent upon hardship assistance. Hardship grants have blown out from around $5 million or $6 million to over $11 million in the past few years. Does that not tell members something? The  
level of deprivation for those most affected by poverty is shameful. The Working for Families package exploits this burgeoning inequality even further.  
Our poorest families are being left behind.  
We in this Parliament must take responsibility to address the abject failure of the system that characterises our social security. Families with children should be consistently supported including during hard times when parents may not be working. This was what the whanau development programme was set up to do—to  
allow our people to determine their own solution. Greetings to us all. 
]