Horomia Parekura: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Horomia Parekura: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Volume:637;Page:7352] 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA (Minister of Maori Affairs) 
: 
 I have just heard what I believe is one of the most trite speeches that I have ever heard especially the end of it. It followed on from one of the greatest speeches made by a leader in this country Helen Clark. She was looking forward and being positive about what we have done and what we will do. It is certainly sad to sit here and listen to people try to invent or turn around the point and make out that Maori are an underclass and that every child who goes to school is hungry. Because I do know teenage girls—whether they are Maori or Pakeha—who when they get to 12 13 or 14 do not like having breakfast. I do know that a lot of people in this building do not necessarily have kai for breakfast because they are busy. 
It is a pleasure to rise in support of the Prime Minister’s statement to the House this year. I want to say it was one of the best speeches that a leader has given for a long long time. Very significant gains have been made by this Government in partnership with all types of people especially Maori. All New Zealanders are benefiting from the fact that the economic fundamentals are now in place and members on that side of the House over there—with an extreme right agenda—understand that. We have put in place the planks that ensure that the economy is strong but we are not charging forward without denying that there are social issues that we have to address. 
The gains now being felt amongst Maori are huge. The unemployment rate has dropped dramatically. The entry into work is at the highest it has ever been for nearly 44 years. That is real positive stuff. I want to make a special note of the sustainability by Maori in society in this country as the tangata whenua. 
Over the past 7 years we have achieved the lowest unemployment in the developed world putting around a third of a million more New Zealanders in work. That is huge. That is big in any country. We have also delivered almost the longest run in continuous economic growth since World War II. That is the sort of thing this Government has done—serious pragmatic targeted and with specific strategies to create a better place for all New Zealanders. We have brought down child poverty hugely since the 1990s when that Government before us sold all the State houses in Wairarapa upped the rents for people who were in State houses and denied the need of those less fortunate families. We have put that into place. We have certainly restored superannuitants’ faith in governance and the Government of this country. We have ensured that they are looked after. We have ensured that they have a projected safe future. That is what this Government has done. 
Maori are contributing significantly to this transformation and to positive development. Maori are making an even stronger contribution to the New Zealand economy. More Maori are working and fewer are in unemployment. Let me tell members clearly that across the generic downturn in the unemployment statistics Maori unemployment statistics have come down four times quicker than anybody else’s. They have entered the workforce four times more quickly than anybody else. So National members should not sit here and wax on about an underclass or about Maori who are not going anywhere. 
There are a few unemployed but on average in most towns and cities in this country from the first day we came into Government to December last year the drop-off in the unemployment rate has been 75 percent. That is not through playing marbles; that is through recognising there are social ills around in this country. That is through recognising that skill sets and the development of skills is a good thing for the nation and especially for Maori. The unemployment rate for Maori has been at a high of 3 percent per annum on average since June 2000 and as I said earlier on Maori unemployment fell quite dramatically. Between June 2000 and June 2006 there was a 32 percent increase in the number of Maori undertaking skilled and highly skilled occupations. Maori are earning more. There has been an 85 percent increase in the wage band over $50000. Understandably Maori still factor in the low-income bands but they are moving. 
That is certainly about ensuring that we are a bilingual nation and that our tikanga and kaupapa Maori are strong. One can see that around this country with Te Matatini coming up with the kapahaka and with participation in the waka ama. Some of the biggest turnouts of collective whanau are done with Maori organisations in this country. They are huge. So the language is thriving. There was chortling and barraging about Maori Television. Now MaoriTelevison is into its third year and going pretty well. A lot of Pakeha watch it. It is pretty good Kiwi stuff with a lot of issues relevant to Maori. 
The number of Maori in the main working ages is projected to increase to nearly half a million in 2021. It is not about hoping for a browning in the workforce; it will be no different from the browning that is happening in the Super Fourteen. At one time that was a bastion of elite athletes of only one culture. The mixture of races is now certainly mirrored in the sense of economic and business opportunities that Maori have a key say in. 
We want to ensure that Maori leadership and Maori governance are improved. The Maori Party and other organisations brought up issues—and quite rightly so—relating to the fact that 53 percent of young Maori boys are leaving school without qualifications. But that is narrow in relation to the National Certificate of Educational Achievement—and that is important. We want to ensure that improves. 
But I want to relate to members my analysis of what is happening with young Maori . In the 1990s Maori families were put asunder not just by right rhetoric but also by policy practices that denied all families equal opportunity. They were put asunder by it. Maori lined up on Thursdays to get the benefit because that was the day to treat the kids to KFC or whatever else. That is what Maori did. The agencies changed things so we did not have long queues of people lining up for the benefit. That was the picture the 1990s left us with. 
Since then things have come a long way forward. Over the last half-dozen years a lot of our teenagers brought up in families without even the basic or a dual income in the house are seeing a different thing happening. They are seeing what I saw as a kid in the 1960s and 1970s. All of a sudden jobs are available in the market—jobs where they can earn money instead of sitting at home and understanding that the biggest thing in their house is an unemployment benefit. That is what is clearly happening. And those young Maori men? Yes they leave school and our job in the sense of the skilling timetable we have is to make sure that we get stuck in with them when they leave school no matter where they are. Modern Maori do understand. The biggest re-entry into education is mature Maori women. They are going back to learn after their children have grown up. 
The Treaty settlement process is accelerating. That is quite clear. Currently 20 groups are actively engaged with the Office of Treaty Settlements. Of these heads of agreements in principle have been reached with a number of claimant groups. Eleven major Treaty claims have been done in our time and that brings an added vigour to the way Maori progress and to where they go. 
I would like to remind those members next door— 
Christopher Finlayson 
: Opposite. 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA 
: I remind those members opposite—those members with a tendency to flop around with extreme-right ideologies—that we have flaws. There are Maori who struggle and Maori families who are poor. But those members should cut out this nonsense about walking up the road holding on to some Maori kid’s hand and wearing the right apparel to look like the bros. They should cut out this nonsense that all Maori do not feed their kids that all Maori are truants and that all Maori do not know how to look after their families—[ 
Interruption 
] That is what that member said. She led us to believe that Maori do not care about their families. That is what she said at the end of her speech. It is outrageous. Maori are good people. They are good people. 
Judith Collins 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. The member who has just resumed his seat has completely misrepresented what I said. At no stage did I actually even talk about Maori children. He is quite wrong to say that and he is quite wrong to mislead. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ann Hartley) 
: The member will be seated. That was not a point of order; it was a point of debate. The member well knows that and she should not interrupt a speech in that way. The member will apologise. 
Judith Collins 
: I apologise. 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA 
: I thank you for that Madam Assistant Speaker. That was outrageous. I tell members seriously that Maori are going forward in this country and that sort of nonsense is something that we as Maori people will not live with. There is a tangata whenua in this country. It is Maori. There is a Treaty that started the journey for other peoples to come to this country. Let us not forget that. Let us remember that young Maori families are going forward. We are now seeing the generation of change. We will keep them strong in their culture but we will also make sure they participate at every level in enterprise in sport in culture and in Parliament.