Jackson Willie; Salesa JennyHon WILLIE JACKSON (Minister for Māori Development): I want to follow on from Minister Henare's kōrero and talk about obviously supporting our Prime Minister's statement but also add my thanks to the Minister who has just finished his kōrero and has led the way in terms of our Māori response.Mihi ana ki a koe Peeni mō tō kaha ki te kōkiri te kaupapa. Ahakoa i ētahi wā he nui te whakahē kei te kōkiri i te kaupapa he mihi nui ki a koe.[I acknowledge you Peeni for your strength in driving this initiative. Despite the many criticisms at times the project still progressed and I acknowledge you for that.]He has led the way for us despite some of the criticism and condemnation sometimes from the other side and has played a vital part in the team going forward—a team ably led by our Prime Minister and that's why our Minister has singled her out. And of course that leadership team led by herself Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson and of course Chris Hipkins has come up I think with the best wellbeing and survival strategy perhaps that the world has seen. It's been a brilliant strategy despite the dire predictions from the Opposition: the National Party who wanted to open up the borders last September who ran dopey petitions and then the petitions disappeared into the abyss; the ACT Party who would have opened the borders 12 months before the National Party; and the Māori Party who would have closed the borders forever. None of them could match our strategy that has seen 53 fatalities—a number so small in comparison to other countries. We're talking about 11 deaths per million. We of course were given no credit from the Opposition just criticism and mad accusations.Sadly my mates from the Māori Party have been the leaders with the crazy accusations. They accused the Labour Māori caucus of being murderous of playing Squid Games". They were adamant that thousands of Māori would die and we were guilty as a Māori caucus of rolling out a modern genocide. Somebody needs to tell them 18 Māori died. Obviously a tragedy—obviously a tragedy—but that's not exactly a modern genocide. Millions have to die for a modern genocide thousands maybe but not 18. So sadly our relations and our whanaunga friends in the Māori Party are very confused but intent on running fearmongering strategies and opportunistic campaigns.Sticking with the facts is probably the right way to go rather than coming out with nonsense—the latest nonsense being that they don't support mandates. I have to ask the Māori Party: what mandates don't you support? Apparently co-leader Rawiri Waititi says they support the hospital ones but not the other ones. Oh right. The other ones that actually look after our kids at schools and preserve their lives. So the Māori Party doesn't support those ones but they're—anyway they're a confused lot your relations Peeni Henare I tell you. So a question's got to be asked of the Māori Party: what mandates do you support? Because keeping our kids safe should be paramount. So they're a silly lot and I had to say that today. What a shame they're not here. I really wanted to tell them but I'll send them a text just to confirm my kōrero and ask them to get their acts together instead of coming out with their extreme opportunistic they think they're campaign-winning strategies but they're stupid strategies from a silly party who are confused about things. And the sad thing is if you listen to a Rawiri Waititi speech or Debbie Ngarewa-Packer speech you'd go and jump off the Auckland Harbour Bridge afterwards if you were a Māori because they're so negative and there's not a positive thing they're saying about Te Ao Māori.So sad about the Māori Party and the Opposition but we as a Māori caucus as a Government are really proud of the mahi we've gone down and Minister Henare went down that track. We knew that when we rolled out by Māori for Māori strategies and solutions we would get a turn-around and we got a terrific turn-around in the last three months when we rolled out $120 million to our Māori communities. We saw vaccination rates really ramp up. Since the fund opened the first dose rate for Māori increased from 69 percent to 90 percent with the fully vaccinated rate increasing from 48 percent to 86 percent and the gap between Māori and non-Māori really started to close. Through Te Puni Kōkiri and Te Arawhiti we have been able to access and work with our people. This is on top of other Māori health investments. So we are pleased with the way things are rolling and ramping up and we've seen a turn-around that I think we would never have seen under other Governments.I want to also look at some of the other things that we've done well as a Māori caucus and as a Government. And we've had a very good economic response I feel: a billion dollars of investment made in the Māori economy employment culture and our people at the last Budget. And in the housing area too—an area where myself and Minister Henare work—we've seen the launch of Whai Kāinga Whai Oranga in 2021: a joint programme that has invested in 182 houses with more approvals expected in the coming months. TPK—Te Puni Kōkiri—has committed $16 million out of the $98 million available for years 2021-2022 and there are 108 homes on papakāinga and 438 house repairs. The main point of the housing area though is that we negotiated—Minister Henare leading the way again in that area with myself in TPK—a coming together of TPK and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development which is crucial if we're going to turn around some of the housing rates for Māori.In the employment area 724 cadets have been contracted in the year to date through the cadet programmes—$10 million committed; $2 million has been committed to Pae Aronui. I'm very proud of some of the work that's gone in in terms of Pae Aronui where we have got right in with the gang whānaus and the disaffected and we've seen real turn-arounds. In the enterprise area TPK continues to lead development of the Māori economic resilience strategy and the Māori small to medium sized enterprise ecosystem support and the procurement policy to date. The number of Māori businesses that have been appointed to all-of-Government panels has significantly increased. And we're proud of this procurement area: an area that Minister Mahuta led initially and I've taken over. It is a position that we're very proud of because of course we could not advance the procurement side of things when we were last in Government because again we get hit with all this separation nonsense. But it has been a real asset and boost for our people in the Māori business area.In our reo area of Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori we've secured $14.8 million over the next four years and appointed a Māori broadcasting board that will complement what's happening in the public media area that Minister Faafoi is rolling out. These are some of the examples of the work that we've done so far. I'm proud of the way that our Māori caucus has worked and our Māori Ministers have worked. Recently we did a groundbreaking spectrum deal. This is a unique deal that gives Māori a real opportunity to develop their interest in the area into the future and a deal that was widely and positively supported by all the major players in the telco industry. I was really pleased that National did not utter one word of criticism—so congratulations National. I think that was probably only done because you saw how well the industry reacted and responded. And so it was good that you shut up when we did this ground-breaking deal: a deal that the National Party would never have done; in fact refused to do when they were in power choosing just to give cash to our people. It was groundbreaking stuff: 20 percent in terms of the spectrum and a major investment. So well done to our people. We have Matariki being celebrated officially for the first time as a nation. That will be happening this year. We've got our Māori Health Authority that Minister Henare talked about. Māori will be part of the three waters reform and we make no apologies for that because Māori have been factored out of that area for so long it's not funny. And later in the year I'm hoping to complete my kōrero and our work with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: mahi that was started by the National Party started by John Key started by the Māori Party and we're committed to finishing that work so that New Zealanders can have a say on what sort of nation we should have going forward and what sort of constitution we should have. It won't be binding but it'll be in my view a great example in terms of New Zealand race relations going forward in the future years. Kia ora anō tātou.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): The next call is a split call. I call on Chris Baillie."