Flavell Te UruroaHon TE URUROA FLAVELL (Minister for Māori Development): Tēnā koe Mr Chairman kia ora tātou katoa. Ka mihi rā ki a tātou katoa ā koutou i tae moata mai ki Te Whare ka pai ka mihi ki a koutou katoa. Nōku te whiwhi kia tū ake hei waha kōrero mō mātou o Te Pāti Māori otirā ko taku tū hei Minita Whakawhanaketanga Māori ka mutu ko te kawe haere anō hoki te āhuatanga o Te Whānau Ora. E rongo ake ngā kōrero kua puta ai i tēnei ahiahi ēngari ka whakairia ērā kōrero mō te wā nei ka hoki mai ki aua kōrero ā taihoa ake nei. [Thank you Mr Chairman and acknowledgments to you all. I commend you all and those of you who arrived early in the House well done and good on all of you. I get this opportunity to speak on behalf of the Māori Party to stand as Minister for Māori Development and furthermore to advance aspects relating to Whānau Ora. I heard the contributions that emerged this afternoon but I will hang them there for now and come back to them presently.]Budget 2016 for us builds on the gains that we have certainly tried to make over the past 8 years as a partner to the National Government knowing full well that there is only one vote that counts in this House and that is the Budget. If you vote for the Budget and you get the Budget over the line you get the goodies and you remain being the Government of the day. So the Māori Party has been able to support the Government on the Budget which is an important vote for the stability of Government if for nothing else but also we have been able to vote against the Government sometimes and vote with the Government sometimes just as Labour does just as New Zealand First does—actually just as everybody does in this House at one point or another. So the key thing has been around an emphasis on really making a difference for whānau Māori and the increases in funding that we secured in Budget 2016 have been about investing I suppose in the solid foundations that we have been able to set up in past years and through until now. It is not about trying to solve every issue that Māoridom has in front of it because there are many; that is true. It is about the resource that Te Puni Kōkiri and I have as levers at my fingertips to be able to press the right buttons. In that regard we have tried to focus on whānau; whenua as in land; whare as in housing; whakapapa as in cultural revitalisation and whakawhanaungatanga; and that is about economic aspirations and economic opportunities and to take us forward in a complete package. The language of revitalisation in all sorts of ways is so important to us—in particular the language. You will know Mr Chair that part of the development that we have taken forward is not just about money but in fact the legislative programme and in particular the Māori Language Bill and the Te Ture Whenua Māori Bill. Of course the Māori Purposes Bill deals with some of those issues. I have been really pleased with the developments that have happened and in particular about the increases in spending across the board. The transfers for example from housing to social development have resulted in an extra quarter of a billion dollars being allocated for generating outcomes for Māori. So if anybody criticises the Māori Party I can say and indeed our ministry can say that upwards of $120 million was secured in the last Budget. I can also say that that has been pretty much the level throughout the last 8 years that the Māori Party has been in association with the Government of the day. If I ask the question Well what does everybody else deliver?" the unfortunate answer is "not a lot". But be that as it may we have tried to—[Interruption] That I suppose is why people want to be on the Government benches. When you get there you are able to make changes not only to legislation but also to secure some funding and that I suppose is the fundamental difference. There were some issues raised by the member for Te Tai Tokerau Mr Davis. Ka nui te mihi ki a koe tēnā koe.[I appreciate you greatly and thank you.]He did talk about the whole notion of the Māori Housing Network. So it is important to note and to put on the record that we were able to secure an additional amount of funding for the housing network to make some longer-term difference to the housing situations facing many whānau. Does it cover every Māori whānau? No it does not. But that is being real. We are trying to focus as best we can on those ones at the very hard edge. An amount of $17.6 million per annum is now allocated to the Māori Housing Network to increase the supply of affordable housing making homes in high-needs communities having them safe having them warm and building capability amongst our people in the Māori communities such that they are able to move through the housing pipeline. I had the unfortunate situation of having to visit ngā tūpakeke in the Waimana Valley in my rohe. It gave me no pleasure whatsoever to go into their house with both of them suffering coughing because of the damp conditions.Pita Paraone: No different from the north.Hon TE URUROA FLAVELL: I accept that even in the north—in fact throughout the country—there are times when our people are suffering. But to be able to go in and give them a hand with some support mechanisms is hugely important to me and I am committed to following that through into the future."