Kerekere ElizabethDr ELIZABETH KEREKERE (Green): Talofa lava. I acknowledge that today is Samoan Independence Day within this Vaiaso o le Gagana Samoa Poupou le lotoifale ola manuia le anofale. So from our whanaunga Te Moananui-a-Kiwa we come back to Aotearoa to have a look at this Budget and how it affects Māori in different ways.Nā te mea tuatahi ka nui te mihi ki te kāhui Māori o te Pāti Reipa.[Because I congratulate and acknowledge the Māori caucus of the Labour Party.]We will always want more we certainly always need more but securing $1.1 billion for Māori across this Budget is undeniably the best we have ever seen so kia ora.I also acknowledge our own co-leader the Hon Marama Davidson for fighting for funds in the areas of homelessness and family and sexual violence. What I find most heartening is that this funding is spread across many many sectors: te reo me ōna tikanga housing health employment justice benefit increases education tourism and broadcasting and our sovereignty—kia ora. It recognises the intersectional solutions that Māori need in the face of the institutional racism that is the legacy of colonisation because no one single thing is going to lift our people out of poverty and address the disparities we face across every single one of those areas up to and including how long we live.When Te Mātāwaka—the Māori and Pasifika caucus of the Green Party—set out our six Māori priorities one of them was the establishment of an independent Māori health authority. We wanted to support this and it is one of the areas where I am most excited in this Budget. I wondered who would have the mana to lead this work but the appointment of Tā Mason Durie is as much a master stroke as it is inevitable after his decades of world-leading work in this area.Two concerns stand out for me in this Budget. Number one: when all this funding rolls out to the respective departments agencies and organisations how do Māori—how do whānau hapū and iwi; how do marae; how do Māori providers and organisations—access and direct that funding? Another one of the Green Party priorities is that Māori have a say in the issues that affect them. We'll be watching closely to see that Māori are actually part of the decision making on how that funding rolls out to them and not just the subject of consultation or at the mercy of bureaucrats who think they know better—we know that story really really well.Number two: in the week that started with the International Day Against Homophobia Biphobia Interphobia and Transphobia it was really disappointing that nowhere in that Budget is there specific funding for rainbow communities and therefore nothing specific to takatāpui. Of course we're included in other funding and we'll find it but it's well known if certain communities are not recognised specifically and their people are not counted not much changes to improve their health and wellbeing.Māori activists organisers academics and leaders have long said What is good for Māori is good for everyone." So my suggestion is that we create a takatāpui unit in the new Māori Health Authority. This is one way that we can show leadership that we can show the mainstream health system how we can treat takatāpui and show wider rainbow communities how they can live with the dignity they deserve in a way that respects their mana their mauri and their wairua. Kia ora."