Brownlee Gerry: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Brownlee Gerry: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:635;Page:6363] 
4.  
GERRY BROWNLEE (Deputy Leader—National) 
 to the  
Minister of Maori Affairs 
: Was the closing the gaps policy successful? 
Hon MITA RIRINUI (Minister of State) 
 on behalf of the 
 Minister of Maori Affairs 
: I would happily take up Gerry Brownlee’s offer for a 100-metres! I can advise the House that the results speak for themselves including the lowest Maori unemployment on record high wage growth for Maori and Maori participation in early childhood and tertiary education as the highest on record. More Maori are involved in business and Maori life expectancy has increased. Nevertheless the Government is committed to doing much more. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: How can the Minister claim to have reduced inequities between Maori and non-Maori when the Ministry of Social Development reported that from 2000 to 2004 the number of Maori living in severe hardship increased by 243 percent and Dr Susan St John of the University of Auckland stated that families of beneficiaries 31 percent of whom are Maori are particularly marginalised by current Government policy with most missing out on Working for Families? 
Hon MITA RIRINUI 
: The Government acknowledges that there is a lot more to be done in the area of Maori social development. As well the most recent household employment statistics tell us that in the year to the end of September 2006 Maori unemployment had decreased from 8.5 to 8 percent. 
Hon Dover Samuels 
: Has the Minister received reports that secret dinners between the Maori Party and the National Party will close the gaps between iwi and the Maori Party? [ 
Interruption 
] 
Madam SPEAKER 
: No. The member is right. That question is entirely out of order. 
Pita Paraone 
: Tena koe Madam Speaker. Can the Minister then explain how the Hon Tariana Turia’s proposal to give the seabed and foreshore back to the Crown and extinguish Ngati Porou and Whanau-a-Apanui takutai moana negotiations will close the gaps? 
Madam SPEAKER 
: That question is also out of order. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: How can the Minister continue to be— 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. You ruled my colleague Pita Paraone’s question out of order and frankly I want to know why because if there was to be for example a closing the gaps strategy different from that advocated by Labour then it might have some features one of which might be different ownership for the seabed and foreshore by the Crown. That is what the proposal is and I think it is a fair question to ask. Just because the National Party does not like it does not mean it should not be heard by this Parliament. I thought my colleague seriously asked the question and more important he has four decades of experience on the problem—a darn sight more than most in this House. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: I thank the member. Both questions were ruled out of order because there is no reference to foreshore and seabed within the primary question. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: I have ruled on the matter Mr Peters. A new point of order? 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: This is a new point of order. Is there some sort of rule today that says that if the matter is not in the primary question it may not be raised by way of a supplementary question or that everybody must stay on the primary question and nothing else? If that is new ruling then it has been disobeyed totally time after time. My colleague sought to ask a question as to how if there was different ownership it would affect Maori wealth in the future. He asked what the economic effect would be if the foreshore and seabed were owned by Maori and not the Crown by inference. Closing the gaps I thought was an economic and social strategy. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: I thank the member. I refer him perhaps for his assistance to Speaker’s ruling 151/2 which states: “Supplementary questions must arise directly from the Minister’s reply; they must be related to it not indirectly but directly.” 
Gerry Brownlee 
: How can he claim to have reduced inequalities between Maori and non-Maori when as at June this year Maori earned on average 30 percent less than non-Maori and Maori are 50 percent more likely to be living on less than two-thirds of the average wage? 
Hon MITA RIRINUI 
: I will speak slowly this time. The Government acknowledges that there is a lot more to do in Maori social and economic development. I did highlight the point in my answer to the primary question that Maori income is on a steady increase but we also acknowledge that there is a lot more to do. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: When the Minister said that the Government was working on other initiatives to advance Maori was one of those initiatives contemplating having the foreshore and seabed in the ownership of any group or body other than the Crown; amen? 
Madam SPEAKER 
: I would ask that member to please leave the Chamber. I am tired of the insolence at the rulings of the Chair. I am sorry Mr Peters. You can finish with this question but that was totally out of order. 
Hon MITA RIRINUI 
: As we are aware there are negotiations— 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: I am sorry Mr Peters but your comment “amen” at the end of your question was obviously a disrespectful reference to my former ruling. 
Hon MITA RIRINUI 
: As the House is aware currently negotiations are under way between the iwi of Whanau-a-Apanui and Ngati Porou to determine their foreshore and seabed customary rights. I see that as a positive step forward in terms of the economic development of those two iwi. However the foreshore and seabed bill tabled in the House by the Maori Party intends to extinguish the blue-water rights that Te Arawa have over an area called Okurei or commonly known as Little Waihi. I am sure that the member for Waiariki does not want this to happen. 
Te Ururoa Flavell 
: Who instructed the chief executive of Te Puni Kokiri to remove its legislative function for monitoring and evaluation in 2005 and to shift resources and can he explain to the House whether those resources were used for closing the gaps? 
Hon MITA RIRINUI 
: There has never been a lessening on the focus of monitoring mainstream agencies in terms of delivery of services to Maori. What has happened in more recent months is that it is done now through collaboration not through imposition. 
Tariana Turia 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. I think the Minister has misled the House because the chief executive officer of Te Puni Kokiri reported that before the Maori Affairs Committee. 
Hon MITA RIRINUI 
: Speaking to the point of order the chief executive officer for Te Puni Kokiri did not say that. He said that there is still a strong focus on monitoring and evaluating mainstream services through a collaborative approach. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: I think this is a matter of debate not a matter of order. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: How can he claim to have significantly increased living standards for Maori when the Ministry of Health reports that Maori adults are 267 percent more likely to suffer from type 2 diabetes than non-Maori adults and that if current Government policies remain the same by 2020 50 percent more Maori will suffer from type 2 diabetes making Maori adults four times more likely than non-Maori adults to suffer from that debilitating health condition? 
Hon MITA RIRINUI 
: As I said to the House there is still a lot of work to be done in the area of Maori social and economic development as the member clearly heard. The member should also realise that Maori life expectancy has increased dramatically under this Government. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: Noting that comment is he satisfied that a child born into a Maori family has a six times greater chance of dying of sudden infant death syndrome than if born into a non-Maori family? 
Hon MITA RIRINUI 
: The member knows well that those statistics have been around for a very very long time including when that party was in Government. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. I did ask the Minister whether he was happy with that statistic. Simply saying that it has been around a long time is not really an answer. 
Madam SPEAKER 
: As the member knows you cannot require a yes or no answer. The Minister addressed the question. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: What contribution has he had to perverse Labour Government policies that have seen the proportion of Maori experiencing severe hardship increase by 243 percent Maori health indicators deteriorate to such an extent as expressed today while those in prison get underfloor heating trips to the beach steak and ice cream R-rated videos Xbox games and high definition LCD TVs and is prison life the new aspiration Labour has for Maori? 
Hon MITA RIRINUI 
: To the second part of that question absolutely not. But the member should take the time out to read the Ministry of Health’s monthly reports to the Minister of Health and to the Associate Ministers of Health highlighting the activities that they have committed to decreasing the negative statistics in all areas of Maori health. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. If the Minister is challenging us to read those reports can he give an undertaking in the House now to release all the reports that he has received during his time as Minister? 
Madam SPEAKER 
: That is not a point of order that is more a matter of a question. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters withdrew from the Chamber.