Sharples Pita: Budget Statement — Budget DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeSharples Pita: Budget Statement — Budget Debate[Sitting date: 16 May 2013. Volume:690;Page:10043. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon Dr PITA SHARPLES (Co-Leader—Māori Party): The Māori Party is pleased to acknowledge the initiatives in Budget 2013 that are aimed at addressing some of the inequalities present in our society. I am talking about the many announcements that have been made across all portfolios that focus on increasing housing supply upgrading housing standards addressing educational underachievement addressing health inequities addressing the issues of unemployment and many more. These issues directly tie into the drivers and symptoms of poverty.It is one of the nation’s greatest shames that as a First World highly privileged country we continue to have great levels of disparity and marked inequitable outcomes for many of our whānau. It was for this very reason that when the Māori Party was invited to become a partner to this Government we placed a high priority on addressing the needs of our most vulnerable whānau and citizens. We pushed to establish a Ministerial Committee on Poverty. Today as Budget 2013 has shown we are heartened by the commitment made by all Ministers across the House who put their money where their mouths were and delivered for our low-income whānau.I believe that ultimately there are two primary fronts on which we must tackle this issue if we are to address this in the long term. They are through education and training and secondly through supporting people into jobs. I am particularly pleased with the announcement already made by Tariana and Minister Joyce that 3000 trade trainingplacements will be established for Māori and Pasifika peoples. Not only is this initiative about upskilling people and encouraging them into skilled trade positions; it will go a long way towards addressing the disparity in the unemployment rate between Māori and Pacific and the rest of the country.Although the unemployment figures are showing a downward trend both the Māori and Pacific unemployment rates remain at an unacceptable level—more than twice that of the rest of the people of our nation. Māori unemployment sits at 13.9 percent and Pasifika unemployment at 15.2 percent. Before anyone in this House is quick to point the finger on this I would remind everyone that Māori and Pasifika unemployment has been an issue for many generations. Whenever there has been a recession a downward trend in the economy or job cuts at a major factory it is usually the Māori and Pasifika people who are the most vulnerable—often the first off and the last back on to work.I am pleased to tell this House that Budget 2013 has extended the Māori Affairs cadetships—and it is all very well for Winston to say “another 100”—to 350 a year. They have been proven to get results in not only getting people into work but keeping them in jobs and moving them up the ladder. Since the programme was initiated in 2009 87 percent of those participants have remained in permanent employment long past the initial cadetship programme which lasts only 6 months. A further 9 percent have gone on to further study. So over the next 4 years our cadetship programme will assist 1400 Māori people into work and that is something I am really proud to support.But let me tell you something else about our trade training and cadetship programmes. What makes these programmes successful is not only finding jobs; it is providing support mentoring pastoral care training and networks. Both of these programmes are marked by a 360-degree programme of support and that is how it should be if we want to build resilience in our communities.Trade training has a special place in the minds and hearts of many Māori. From the 1960s to the 1980s thousands of young Māori were enrolled into the Māori trade training schemes of the time. These programmes were run out of the then Department of Māori Affairs Te Puni Kōkiri and were one of the most successful Māori work programmes ever run in New Zealand. Those who participated in these programmes were taught skills and trades that kept them employed for the rest of their lives. The skills they learnt also supported them to put kai on the table to support their tamariki and whānau and to participate in our communities and ultimately people remember these times as some of the happiest in our collective history. Whānau from throughout New Zealand participated in these programmes. Many of them were sent to other rohe to learn their trades and ultimately many of them settled in these new regions such as in Christchurch and in Auckland where trade training schemes were run.These stories of migration of those who had moved from one rohe to another are remembered in our stories in our whakapapa and in our history. To this day I still come across people and whānau who have been part of this scheme. For example while I was in Christchurch helping to establish He Toki ki te Rika the first modern-day trade training programme down there the old trade trainees who are now employers and managers of building companies came in to support the programme and formed a group that will help young Māori into employment. In fact whenever I go down to Christchurch and see someone who has lived there a long time and who is Māori I just ask whether they are from my place from Ngāti Kahungunu because many of the Kahungunu people now reside there.I wanted to remember this history and I wanted the House to hear this proud history because this is no longer something nostalgic; this is something that this Government is working towards making real again. I particularly want to acknowledge the work that Ngāi Tahu have done in establishing He Toki ki te Rika in Christchurch after theearthquakes. Their trade training model which enrolled the support of the construction industry iwi Te Puni Kōkiri community providers marae and educational institutions was really ingenious. I acknowledge them for their leadership in Māori trade training. I do not know whether it was by design or destiny or what but Christchurch was one of the original sites of the old Māori trade training programmes. I remember when Ngāi Tahu launched He Toki ki te Rika that it was a reminder of a great legacy that they had been part of and indeed that we as Māori people from across the country had been part of.I also want to acknowledge the Minister of Finance the Hon Bill English for his role as the chair of our Ministerial Committee on Poverty—Hon David Cunliffe: Why?Hon Dr PITA SHARPLES: —because of the outcomes that have come out from that. I have lost the last page so I will just talk. Because $60 million for Te Reo Māori initiatives is major; $100 million for housing warm up projects is major; diabetes $35 million—Hon Trevor Mallard: Where’s Flavell today?Hon Dr PITA SHARPLES: Hold on. Listen to what I am saying.Hon Trevor Mallard: Where’s Flavell today?Hon Dr PITA SHARPLES: Flavell is on the road and so is Tariana—we have got a by-election going mate. It is all right—steady. Diabetes gets $35 million rheumatic fever gets another $21 million added to the $24 million that we have already achieved and extending the house sizes—3000 houses—gets $2.9 billion.You see the thing about the Māori Party is it is not going in there just for things for Māori culture; it is about seeing needs for New Zealanders sitting at the table and boring in and getting support for these projects. A lot of these projects have come from us being there present at the table and pushing the case for New Zealand. Kia ora tātou.