King Annette: Financial Review Debate — In Committee 
King Annette: Financial Review Debate — In Committee 
[Volume:661;Page:9500] 
Hon ANNETTE KING (Deputy Leader—Labour) 
: 
 I begin this evening by congratulating the Minister for Social Development and Employment the Hon Paula Bennett on her selection for an Eisenhower Fellowship and I tell the Minister that I genuinely mean that. It is a great honour to have been chosen to go and have 6 weeks’ study in the United States. Many years ago I had the opportunity to go for 3 weeks and I studied assistance for dependent families in the United States. One of the things I learnt—and I suspect that the Minister will learn it—was that it is a very different country from New Zealand with very different values particularly in terms of the way it treats families. So I will be interested in what the Minister comes back with after her study there. 
I will raise one particular issue with the Minister tonight and I am seeking answers around the whole area of Whanau Ora. I think it is time that we had some answers. Whanau Ora is a flagship policy of this Government we are being told over and over again. But every time we have questioned on this issue we have not been able to find out first of all what it means. Members of the Social Services Committee who were there on the same day that I was were astounded when we had Government departments tell us that they did not know what Whanau Ora was and could not give us a definition of what it was. I think that the Minister in terms of blocking any information on this and refusing all information requests—and not only this Minister but also all other Ministers with portfolios related to it—is not doing a service to New Zealand. Now we have commentators writing about Whanau Ora and defining it as they would like to define it. 
I will put on record that Labour is not opposed to the concept of Whanau Ora. After all Tariana Turia was my Associate Minister of Health back when we were in Government and I very much understand where she comes from and what she wants to achieve. Tariana Turia has not changed what she believes Whanau Ora is but we have been getting conflicting and confusing messages from this Government depending on which audience its members are talking to. Tariana was very upfront and forward about this policy. She said that this policy was for Maori by Maori. But after a period of time and obviously some polling Mr Key then decided that he needed to say: “No no. It is for all New Zealanders.” After several weeks of that Tariana Turia said that if all New Zealanders wanted to access it they could. That was said on one medium but when Mr Key was interviewed on Maori media—and perhaps he thought that no one was listening—he said: “No no. It really is for Maori and it will run in the same way as kohanga reo. If other New Zealanders want to access it through Maori then that is how we will do it.” But that is two messages; people do not know who will be able to access it. 
Tonight I tell the Minister for Social Development and Employment that I would really like her to answer a number of questions for this Committee. Where will the funding come from? Will it come from the Pathways to Partnership money—the over $100 million that was parked in the Minister of Finance’s contingency fund? How will the service to providers be decided? How will taxpayers’ funding for Whanau Ora be monitored? How will the outcomes from Whanau Ora be measured? Can the Minister also tell us whether there will be a “Minister of Whanau Ora”? Will Te Puni Kokiri be the lead agency for this programme? Will there be regional Whanau Ora committees? Will there be a separate appropriation for Whanau Ora? 
All those recommendations were in the task force report given to the Government which it has refused to release even though it has now had the report for weeks. The Government has had the report for weeks. It just so happened that a departmental report with the recommendations in it made its way to other members of this House. I say to the Minister that I think it is time that those questions were answered. We already have funding being allocated under the label of Whanau Ora funding—$415000 has been allocated to five women’s refuges. I do not have any problem with that but I ask where the money is coming from for the Government to be able to provide it to those five refuges. 
I tell the Minister for Social Development and Employment that I think it is time there was a clear description of Whanau Ora. When I asked the Minister in the House for a description and actually gave her a description and asked whether it was Whanau Ora the Minister said yes. But that was the same description as for Strengthening Families a programme that already exists. I ask the Minister to take this opportunity to put on the record what this programme is all about because people are seeking answers.