Katene Rahui: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Katene Rahui: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Volume:670;Page:16610] 
RAHUI KATENE (Maori Party—Te Tai Tonga) 
: 
 For the average New Zealander the world of politics must be really hard to fathom. Over recent months the news that has captivated the headlines has been about whether particular politicians have dyed their hair whether the Prime Minister should have minced on the catwalk or admitted that Liz Hurley is “hot” and what sort of behaviour is befitting of MPs. 
What seems to have slipped below the radar is the fact that a crisis is occurring in our hospital admissions. It is a fact that medical conditions which occur more frequently for tamariki living in poverty have been increasing over recent years particularly for our Maori and Pasifika mokopuna. Close to 250000 tamariki are living in homes reliant on the benefit for their income. 
My colleague Te Ururoa Flavell last night spelt out some of the consequences for families living in severe or significant hardship: families who go without fruit and vegetables put up with the cold to save on heating costs delay going to the doctor or the dentist live in cramped conditions or tell their children that the opportunity to go on a school trip or play sport is a privilege that they can ill afford. Is this a nation fit for our tamariki? We need to heed the research that shows us there can be a different life for our babies if we make it a priority. 
Last year I spoke at the launch in Dunedin of  
The New Zealand Children’s Social Health Monitor Report 2010 
. That report revealed the inevitable showing that economic recessions have affected children’s health in other countries. We have seen research showing the close correlation between recessions and high hospital admissions for children here in New Zealand. However the report also reported on the experience of Sweden in the 1990s when despite large numbers of children living in low-income families there were no significant increases in childhood hospitalisations for poverty-related illnesses. 
I remind the House of the question I asked the Minister of Health earlier today. In question time I noted that in 2010 2000 more children were admitted to hospital with poverty-related illnesses than during 2007-08. We are talking about admissions for respiratory problems infectious diseases and other conditions with links to poor housing and economic hardship. Those are all diseases of poverty which could have been prevented if children had been taken to see a doctor earlier. The Prime Minister said earlier in this debate when talking about those very children the children who suffer the consequences of long-term dependency that the “Government is not prepared to leave those people behind.” That was welcome news for the Maori Party but statements are at risk of becoming platitudes without a plan being put in place. Slogans and placards are great for the cameras but where is the strategy to put the words into action? 
I tell the House that it is in the relationship and in the confidence and supply agreement between National and the Maori Party. In that document we spelt it out in black and white: “The Maori Party seeks significant outcomes in whanau ora through eliminating poverty”. Not content with that we then made child poverty a key platform in our economic policy. In our policy approach to end child poverty by 2020 we stated that successive Governments and their policies have created policy problems in our land of plenty. We put the time and effort into investing in the promise of prosperity. We called for seven simple solutions to support children whanau and families. We will set a deadline to eliminate child poverty by 2020. We will designate an official poverty line at 60 percent of the median household disposable income after housing costs and set net income for those on benefits at this measure to prevent poverty. We will increase the minimum wage to at least $15 an hour. We will raise core benefit levels including superannuation and veterans pensions. We will simplify Working for Families including extending the in-work payment to all families. We will investigate the reintroduction of a universal child benefit. We will establish a neighbourhood renewal fund which may include incentives to encourage people to live more collectively by for example encouraging the use of community gardens after-school care and post-natal support for parents. 
There were other cross-sector priorities that we have brought to the attention of this Government. We have talked about the adoption of the genuine progress index rather than the continuing reliance on GDP as the only measure of the health of a nation. We proposed the establishment of an “every child matters” fund which would be a targeted and time-limited grant to ensure among other things that no child starts school without shoes or a raincoat. We have put pressure on the Government to expand retrofit programmes in order to ensure houses can meet the achievable warm house standards target. 
I would love to say that we have achieved in all of those areas and that life for our children has improved. There have been some big gains which have come directly from our relationship with the Government. One of the most significant things we have achieved has been the investment of $320 million in retrofitting to insulate and heat homes built before 2000. We were pleased to know that priority would be given to homes with families suffering poor health a disproportionate number of whom will be whanau Maori. The opportunity for community services cardholders to be eligible for a grant of up to $3000 was also really important. Eighteen months ago the Government put $320000 into the KidsCan StandTall food in schools programme which will make a difference for something like 7500 children. The minimum wage did increase but only by a mere 25c an hour. Yes benefit and superannuation payments did increase by some 1.96 percent but it was an April Fool’s Day increase which just kept pace with the cost of living. But as for any substantial meaningful difference made in terms of addressing child poverty we are still waiting. 
But the Maori Party is not a party that sits and waits for another day nor is it our party’s policy to wail and weep if we do not have a strategy in mind. Our policy approach has always been to face the risk take a step forward and do all that we can to make gains and create a positive difference. Just before Christmas members will have noted that I wrote to every one of the members of the House seeking their support to hold parliamentary cross-party talks on child poverty. It was not just my bright idea; at the Children’s Social Health Monitor launch last year members of the audience asked whether politicians could work together to eliminate that disgrace. It is the opportunity we all need to turn round the public perception of politicians and to work together collectively on the things that really matter. 
We know that by investing in education social services and access to free health care the impacts of poverty and recession on children can be dramatically reduced. I have a raft of ideas I have the enthusiasm to match and I have been following matters up with individual members. Now all I am waiting for are the remaining responses from right across the House declaring our collective concern about the well-being of our mokopuna.