Horomia Parekura: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Horomia Parekura: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Volume:645;Page:14113] 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA (Minister of Maori Affairs) 
: 
 The Prime Minister’s speech today certainly delivered a build-on in relation to what we have done in 2007 and those years past. Today sitting in the House it has been quite surprising to hear all this pontificating from the other side of the House in relation to housing to jobs and to the economy. We all know what happened in the 1990s! We have been offered strong and proven leadership today by the longest-serving Labour leader Helen Clark. In 2007 a year of major achievements we had a strong and resilient economy. Affordable health care was extended with prescription costs capped at $3 and the cost of doctors’ visits halved; 20 hours of free early childhood education for 3 and 4-year-olds was introduced; and KiwiSaver was ever expanding. 
If we want Kiwis to own houses in this country then we have to set up a platform whereby they can get the deposit and whereby they can realise their dreams. We know who removed the cap on State house rents in the 1990s; it was the National Government. We know who sold all the State houses; it was the National Government. What has been difficult and hard to do is to create the filler in the sense of replacing those houses. As the Minister of Housing has said we are quite clearly making housing affordability—the track to owning a house—a lot easier. 
A plan for a truly sustainable New Zealand is under way with support for economic development—for example the business tax package which everybody seems to be forgetting. In relation to the achievements and the economic script of this country it is fascinating to listen to the leader of the National Party who was a principal player in the markets’ savaging of this country’s dollar. There were two of them who did that. That is the truth. That is what happened. If he is proud of that then he should talk about it. If that is what stabilising the country is if leadership is about that then one wonders and ponders. If one does understand foreign exchange if one does understand the markets in relation to futures and if one does understand about taking the gap between the bottom and the height of the dollar it is very interesting what one does—one plays with it. 
Supporting economic development with the business tax package has been a serious part of this Government’s achievements. We have had the longest run of economic growth since the Second World War. That is incredible. I want to repeat that: this is the longest run of economic growth since World War II. The economy is a third larger than it was when we were elected—a third larger! Everybody forgets about that. 
There was an interesting defining-point in this fairytale about people running away from this country because they do not like it or do not enjoy it—which is what the leader of the National Party said up in Waitangi. Truthful Phil Goff has brought out the real figures. What were the percentage gaps and differences? At the moment it is 1.6 percent. Let me add to that that the reason for the gap is the false market in mining prices and the reserves that China and India are picking up which put a buttering on the top. The only way that people will survive is with the skills package that this Government is serious about their having. What was the figure in the National Government’s time? It was 54 percent. So I would slow down on knocking on about people going to Australia. 
I said this in Waitangi and I repeat it here: Maori are natural roamers. They roam around. They like roaming. In the 1950s the 1960s and the 1970s 85 percent of Maori lived near the marae. They lived in Ruatoria lived in Te Kao lived in the supposed backblocks. Their language and their culture were strong because they were right near the marae. In the space of 10 years they roamed and became urbanised in response to National’s edict in response to industrialisation. It was the fastest move by indigenous people in the world—10 years. They came from the country and born out of that was Manurewa Papatoetoe and Wainuiomata. [ 
Interruption 
] 
Now they go to Brisbane and Sydney—that is dead right. It is an evolving transition of indigenous people—these things have slowed down—and certain parties such as the National Party try to take them down. I want to tell that member over there from Hawke’s Bay why Maori are going to Sydney to Australia. It is because they are roamers. One in seven Maori now lives there. It is not because they do not like this country; it is because OE is just starting to be accepted by Maori in the same way that it is accepted by that member and by John Key. Pakeha have been doing it for years. They go to school start in business then say: “I’m going to go OE-popping ma.” That is what that member said to his parents. Maori go overseas and they learn things. That is how they get to understand better that home ain’t too bad after all. And they will be back. John Key went on a long-term OE. What was wrong with that? What did he do? He supposedly got other skills. Chris Tremain went on OE—he is always on OE because I never see him here! But that is what he did. Pakeha have done it for a long long time. What is the hassle? What is wrong with Maori going over there? That is why Hone Harawira is always going overseas—because Maori are roamers. 
Contemplate this: in 1992 one in four of us Maori was on the dole on the unemployment benefit. That was a repercussion of National’s last session in Government. It was disgraceful how it collapsed businesses undermined the unions took the workers out and sold their houses—such as those in Masterton. It is quite simple: Maori are living longer more Maori are working more Maori are participating in education—the number has tripled—and more Maori and their whanau are enjoying a better quality of life and it just keeps on getting better. Since just over 3 years ago our language has been in the strongest state it has been in for a long time. People over there pooh-poohed Maori Television. It is 3½ years old and is about to launch its second channel which will be fully in our language and run for 3 hours every day. That is a great thing. 
We heard in the Prime Minister’s statement about support for strengthening the non-governmental organisations and that is something that I know Katherine Rich is totally supportive of. Everything that came out in that speech she would have said; it is just that we have said it a lot earlier and we have been practising it. I know she would agree with it. [ 
Interruption 
] 
Mr Jones was a gun shearer and I was a slower one. But the thing about taking wool off sheep is that one has to understand where it goes. One thing about the Maori economy which is hitting $16.9 billion is that Maori are big takers. The single biggest meat exporter in this country is Maori. Maori are heading to be the biggest owners of fish in the South Pacific and I thank Mr Jones for his effort in that regard in that his commission devolved that industry. People like to paint this picture of poor old Maori. It is not denied that we have blips in Maori society. The rabid bullying by men of women the violence is there and is very real. But it is a New Zealand issue. It is something we have all got to get hold off. 
Maori youngsters are leaving school too early. What the Prime Minister has said and what this Government has proposed as one of the best policies going forward is that people up to 18 years old should be in a form of education. One thing that one learns as indigenous people and tangata whenua is that if one is well skilled one is skilled for life and one can look after one’s family. Most Maori in the 1980s went into trade training or into the services. Most of those people who qualified and learnt different skills were never on the dole through the hard times when the shots came in. That is what we have to do right now. We have to skill our people with relevant skills for the opportunities that are out there in the labour market. What the last National Government did was to strip that all out. It was jobs for the boys and it was injection-free capital roaming by those investors especially overseas. 
Maori business is on a roll at the moment and it is not just because of Treaty settlements. We have grown up. The governance has got better. And guess what? Maori are the best business investment in this country because they ain’t going to leave here. They are like the old English families. They want to live here. They ain’t going to leave here and that is really important to understand. 
There are problems. Many vulnerable whanau turn to the numerous Maori providers across this country and that was what the Prime Minister announced today: support for the non-governmental organisations. I commend Ruth Dyson for the effort she has put into that and I know that Katherine Rich would be totally supportive of it. A large number of Maori community groups deliver essential child young people and family services on behalf of the Government. These groups understand their communities and their families. We are trying to ensure that there is a release of funding to them. It is their right to manage to make sure that their communities get the best in relation to what they want and what they need. 
Phil Heatley 
: You tried and you failed. 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA 
: Our potential Maori— 
Hon Shane Jones 
: They need a search party in Whangarei to find that member. 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA 
: That is dead right. We have outstanding legislation that is coming in at the moment. Maori will not be led by the nose. They will understand. We have seen the gloating and the posing from National members. They think they are already in Government. Well they ain’t. And we are not going to lie down and roll over.