Mahuta NanaiaJOANNE HAYES (National): Thank you Madam Chair. I rise to have some questions but I also just wanted to state a position in that I am disappointed that we in Māori development and Māori affairs only get a 15-minute tranche on these appropriations. I'm disappointed because the Government advertised and went big on the $900 million that was budgeted for post-COVID Vote Māori Development and I would have expected that as members we would have got more than 15 minutes to be able to scrutinise and ask more questions to the Minister around the Vote Māori Development appropriations. So I just want to put it there that 15 minutes for me is really too short. I want to put my questions and my colleague here Harete Hipango will also do the same but that leaves very little room for the Government MPs and other MPs to be able to get up and question the Minister as well. So my questions will relate to administration management costs that have come in for the appropriation that has come through this Budget especially around the Te Puni Kōkiri administration and management appropriation. We have in this appropriation just for Te Puni Kōkiri $73 million including the regional offices and I do query: is that enough or is that not enough? Do we have too many regional offices? Of that appropriation there was an additional $4 million that was set aside for capital expenditure yet within the Māori Affairs Committee meeting and in the paperwork we saw that some of that fund was actually used to buy big-screen TVs for a number of the regional offices and I wonder whether or not the Minister can actually put hand on heart and say that it is a good investment of Government funding to buy big-screen TVs for each of those regional offices. So that's one of my questions: is that a good investment of Government funding into those regional offices? My next question is around the COVID-19 appropriation and how that fitted in with the Vote Māori Development appropriation announced in the Budget. So we heard from a number of Māori businesses about the disappointment that they had of not even featuring within this appropriation. That was sad because whilst—yes—they were included in a lot of the employment funds that came out of the Government for businesses at the end of the day the Māori businesses were looking at the future. They made comment around that the Budget was mainly focused on welfare and education and said that that's OK for right now but what about the future and perhaps in this appropriation the Minister missed the mark. So I want to know from the Minister as another question of mine: why wasn't there more investment in the Māori economy through Māori businesses? I understand that New Zealand Māori Tourism got some funds to support Māori business but at the end of the day they were rushed off their feet and you had to question whether or not staff of Māori Tourism actually had enough of that appropriation to put the people in place to actually help the needs of Māori business. That's why I want to know why the Minister did not appropriate more in this appropriation for Māori Tourism and for Māori business and maybe take a little bit less for other areas. Finally I just want to ask my last question to the Minister—and I understand the Minister for Whānau Ora is not here. But as the senior Minister I just want to ask the Hon Nanaia Mahuta questions around the four new Whānau Ora projects that the Minister had put aside: how that was appropriated how was that evaluated how were the four providers—and this may more than likely be an operational process. But at the end of the day the Minister would have had some input on the accountability and the process of selecting those four providers. How many others missed out on that particular fund? So I will leave my questions there on the floor for the Minister. I may have some other questions especially around Te Tumu Paeroa and whether or not they are still fit for purpose especially now that iwi have their own Māori land trusts and would actually benefit more from the $11 million set aside within the Budget. So my question is what the Minister intends to do over the future of Te Tumu Paeroa as more and more iwi take over their land trusts and manage them and look after all the trust fees that are part and parcel of it. Thank you Madam Chair. CHAIRPERSON (Hon Ruth Dyson): Before I call the Hon Nanaia Mahuta can I just remind the member that it's not appropriate to refer to the absence from the House of any other member.Hon NANAIA MAHUTA (Minister for Māori Development): Can I thank the Māori Affairs Committee for their consideration of the Estimates. We had a full and frank conversation about the range of opportunities in front of Māori communities as they look to recover from COVID. But also I want to acknowledge for the very first time the way in which this Government's response to an unprecedented event at both the central and local level enabled iwis Māori to participate in a response that would be relevant to the community that would send fair communications out about what the impact of the issues we were dealing with in relation to COVID were and to be able to respond in a timely way. That wouldn't have happened by accident; it was a deliberate part of the Māori response to the COVID context and enabling communities to participate.Let me say that the points raised by the chair of the select committee Rino Tirikatene about the consolidation of funds—to demonstrate the point: consolidating funds into the Māori development fund enabled Te Puni Kōkiri to fund very quickly those organisations who were able to reach deep into their community and activate an immediate response at week one and week two of a lockdown. That was really really important because what we knew is that they couldn't wait for three or four weeks to go through a bureaucratic process. It was very important for those organisations on the ground to be able to deliver yes care packs in the first instance but that evolved into kai packs and then other types of supports as they understood the profile of their community but the profile of need certainly during the COVID period. That I believe is an approach that we can continue to build on in the appropriation. Around about $11 million going into Māori NGOs will help to build on the learnings as a result of our COVID experience.The member Joanne Hayes raised an issue around the investment of capital expenditure into regional offices and big TVs. Yes we have made that investment because we know more and more that communities rely because of distance on technology to be able to access information in a timely way that can help them make decisions. So to illustrate the point if you go into any of the Te Puni Kōkiri offices some of the work that we do to run workshops alongside other Government agencies and using technology enables whānau to be able to perhaps be in the office use the technology to link to other services and then workshop through solutions that would be relevant to them. There are all sorts of examples. Even when we think about whenua development and the access to the Ministry for Primary Industries the Provincial Development Unit team Te Puni Kōkiri and others across the whenua network having access to technology is not often the case in every community. So Te Puni Kōkiri does provide that particular resource.Let me come to the support for Māori businesses because we did make an appropriation of about $10 million to Māori Tourism and that was to enable that organisation to work with the 500-odd small businesses who are yes in tourism but they're actually small businesses to be able to support them during the COVID period and moving forward into a recovery.Can I say though in terms of the urgent response undertaken and led by New Zealand Māori Tourism alongside the Māori Women's Development Inc. Poutama Trust and a few others they had a Māori business response team. During the period of COVID when certainly tourism businesses were starting to think Will I be able to survive this period out?" they had immediate access to the types of supports that we would want for any business. The wider supports however came through the general Government announcements in relation to wage subsidies and the package of supports that were delivered particularly targeting small to medium sized enterprises.Two last points. In relation to Te Tumu Paeroa can I commend Te Tumu Paeroa who announced on the back of the loan scheme that they had a targeted scheme for Māori land owners. They contributed $10 million towards this. It was recognising the hardship that would be felt amongst some landowners as they tried to reposition or pivot their business. That was done based on an assessment of need of Te Tumu Paeroa understanding their client base and being able to reposition their resources in a very adequate way for this time.Lastly while it's not my portfolio but I am the Vote Minister I feel that I should acknowledge the good work of both Minister Jackson and Minister Henare for their respective work and effort into increasing support for trades training cadetships and the like. In the Whānau Ora space Minister Henare supported the existing network of Whānau Ora providers through the Whānau Ora commissioning agencies to be able to stand up and activate supports during the COVID context and now in this recovery space. What I add that the committee acknowledged Minister Henare noted is that he believed that the Whānau Ora approach has not been as wide and as deep as he would like. Probably to highlight and emphasise that particular perspective is his focus on local-level commissioning where there is not a natural network of Whānau Ora providers within a community.So I hope that provides a sense of context for the investments that we've made but there's a lot of opportunity out there to grow the Māori economy and much of what we will be doing from this time forth will be focused on that effort."