SpeechJOANNE HAYES (National): Thank you Madam Speaker. I'm very happy to stand and give my 10 minutes' worth around Vote Māori Development in this Budget because I was quite disappointed in some of the areas that the Government missed out on—they missed an opportunity.So everybody knows it was $900 million for this Budget and it should have been—it was a post-COVID Budget for Māori. So much so in fact that Māori took it upon themselves to actually set up their own areas to look after their whānau and they set up their own stops their own COVID-19 stops so they could look after their whānau. I think the 1918 flu epidemic was a big signal to them and they didn't want to see that happen again. So when I start to look at this Māori development Budget allocation of $900 million I hear the words and the voices of the many Māori economic development leaders who have come out and said that this Government has missed a great big opportunity in growing the economy. We have talked about this—I have listened in this House on a number of speeches around who is best to be able to deliver a strong and growing economy and it is the blue team. I'm afraid I disagree with what the previous speaker Jami-Lee Ross said—that we were very similar: the red team the blue team. But it is actually the blue team that actually delivers a strong a very strong economy. In saying this I think that many of the Māori whānau that were out and about looking after their particular areas their rohe during the COVID-19 lockdown were quite disappointed. I was getting emails I was getting texts from whānau who were saying Where are the Māori Ministers? Why is it we just hear a dump of $45 million and then silence? Why is it that there are only little wee Facebook flashes and then that's it?" They wanted to see more and more of the Māori Ministers who I'm afraid did not—did not—show up and face up to the issues that Māori whānau were actually facing during that time. Questions around Māori Development in the 2020 Budget were around: is this enough to actually keep growing in terms of the needs of Māori? Because the need for Māori is growing every day. There are employment issues there are businesses going to the wall. Has this Government given enough in their Budget?One of my whanaunga who is a leader in Māori economic development on the coast said that this was a Budget mainly for welfare and education. It had nothing to do with actually moving the Māori economic development dial further to grow the economy. Pre-COVID the Māori economy was $50 billion and growing. I would hate to think what that Māori economic development growth is like now. I believe it has taken a hit. There are concerns around the growing numbers of Māori unemployed; 17000 Māori unemployed has been quoted. If we look closer to it there most probably will be much more than that.I want to talk a little bit about the other areas within this particular Budget because I believe that some of the Budget items have not been realised and will be lucky to be realised in this next 12 months. Let's look at the $109 million for the promotion of Māori language and culture through direct funding of the broadcasting entities. Now we all know that the Māori media sector shift a document has only just been released by the Minister. I believe that that $109 million is the one that will be aligned to that particular strategy.Why would a Minister go ahead and do that? Why would she put some money in something when really she has no idea about what kind of feedback she's going to get from those that are in the Māori media? Why would you do that—$73 million to discharge the departmental responsibilities of Te Puni Kōkiri? Is it an administration fund? It is an administration fund—that's what it is at the end of the day. And at the end of the day are they doing what they say they're doing? There is $37 million for assistance to whānau for Māori housing providers—for Māori housing providers. What have they got? What impacts will this post - COVID19 have on their workforce? I don't think that this Government has actually taken that into account. I really don't. I don't think that there is enough of a workforce out there to actually help our Māori into redeveloping their homes refurbishing their homes or even building new ones and is $37 million enough for that? Has this Budget been even or well-thought-out in divvying up each of the sectors? Then of course we have the $40 million to fund Māori development initiatives to meet economic—well I've already spoken about that because this is not enough to meet economic cultural land development technological health aspirations including Māori digital technology and rangatiratanga funds. Honestly that is a drop in the bucket when you come and you start to pull all of those sectors together. It a shame actually; again another missed opportunity. I also want to talk a little bit—and it would be remiss of me not to talk—about the Whānau Ora budget: the $137 million that was given to Whānau Ora. On the day that the Budget was announced I was interviewed by Māori Television and they asked me what I thought about it. And I said "Well it's a great amount of money." However I could only see two areas where the actual funds had been tagged. One was for commissioning agencies and one was COVID-19 yet there was a glaring gap in between. That ranged between $10 million and $20 million. I said "Well what's the plan for that?" I don't there is a plan only for the Minister to be interviewed by the same Māori Television and asked the same question and he too agreed that there was no plan. He didn't have a plan for the excess of that funding and that's very very shameful. It's a competency issue. Is the Minister competent enough to be able to run that particular portfolio? I'm reminded of the start of 2020 when there was a great big—I suppose raruraru let's say that—raruraru between the Minister Whānau Ora commissioning agencies Whānau Ora providers and we'll call them the "Dames Group". They came out and questioned the Minister as to why he was giving over funding that he had tagged from the 2019 Budget to Whānau Ora commissioning agencies and why he was giving it to non - Whānau Ora commissioning agency providers. And he said "Well I'm the Minister. I can do that." They weren't exactly the words that he should have actually said. Then there came all of these issues from the "Dames Group" around his competency and they felt aggrieved enough to take a Waitangi Tribunal inquiry into the state of Whānau Ora under this Government. This is very shameful on that Minister for doing that—for putting at risk all of those providers and whānau to be honest. To top it off the Prime Minister was asked to step and help to sort it out because it was getting very very very—a lot of tension between the parties where the Minister's name was being asked to resign because he was so incompetent of being able to manage that particular fund. I can say that at the end of the day when it comes to the Māori development portfolio and Māori development in the Budget this Government has missed a great opportunity to be able to move the Māori economic development sector dial to actually grow Māori business in this country. Eight million dollars were shared for Māori tourism. It was shared amongst Māori tourism and a few other organisations. There is just a drop in the bucket if that; it's only a half a drop in the bucket. The Māori tourism sector is highly successful. It's a highly successful sector. And they need to be able to support their whānau by having access to more of that Māori development budget. Remember at the end of the day if their businesses are thriving people are being employed the economy is growing. And that's what this Government has actually missed: the whole area of growing the Māori economic development sector. Before I close my contribution today around this Budget—really at the end of the day there is something I want to acknowledge around the issues that have been bubbling up overseas and here in New Zealand around Black Lives Matter or in New Zealand's case Brown Lives Matter. It is going to actually reshape race relations in this country and overseas. And I just want to acknowledge some of the issues that have been brought up through that. I think that you know for a Government and parliamentarians we need to keep that in the back of our minds. We need to have it there at the forefront. Thank you.DEPUTY SPEAKER: I call Louisa Wall. This is a split call."