Horomia Parekura: Address in Reply 
Horomia Parekura: Address in Reply 
[Volume:628;Page:275] 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA (Minister of Maori Affairs) 
: 
 E nga mana e nga reo e nga karangaranga maha tena tatou katoa. I a koutou o te Ropu Maori i a koe e Tau mo to hoki mai ki te wahi nei nga kanohi Maori e mihi kau ana. 
[ 
To the authorities the languages and the many callings greetings to you all. To you collectively of the Maori Party to you Tau Henare who have come back to this place and to all Maori members my personal acknowledgments to you 
.] 
I give my greetings to all people out there and to all my colleagues. I pay tribute to our fellow MP Mr Rod Donald and his whanau and to the strong contribution he made to Parliament. I congratulate you Madam Speaker on your election and I also congratulate the Deputy Speaker and Assistant Speakers. I would like to welcome all the new members to the House—nau mai haere mai. 
 It is a privilege to be standing in my third term in the forty-eighth Parliament. I am pleased to be part of a Government that is committed to the well-being success and achievements of our mokopuna rangitahi and whanau as a whole. I wholeheartedly support the value and importance the Speech from the Throne gave to the education of our mokopuna and rangitahi. 
Hon Tau Henare 
: How many graduated? 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA 
: Education is at the heart and the cornerstone of Maori’s progress and is certainly something that is in short supply on the Opposition benches at times. Education is the key to unlock the potential that is needed on the highway of opportunity for all of our people. In this 21st century economy it is more than certain—[ 
Interruption 
] Myrtle will not be rolling along this highway; it will be Maoris driving their vehicles to the areas where they want to get to. A progressive knowledge-based economy is possible only where education is valued where it flourishes universally and where it is of world-class quality. 
Our Government is reducing a significant barrier to participation in early childhood education. Certainly as that member pointed out the Ministry of Maori Affairs and other ministries have been run very well during his absence. Ensuring our mokopuna have the best possible start in life with quality and affordable education is essential. We will continue to invest in that. Our mokopuna and whanau will benefit immensely from the reduction in the primary school teacher-pupil ratio to 1:15. That important ratio is conducive to our language development strategy and most certainly it is effective in relation to one-to-one teaching. There is no doubt that our emphasis on literacy and numeracy has raised the levels of achievement. Our commitment to mokopuna and tamariki is shown in our efforts in the Budget in relation to the development of early childhood education. At the end of the day if we want our mums to return to work and get all the time there that they can then we have to ensure that at the front end they are not worried about the mokopuna being left alone or anything else. Hand in hand with that we are also committed to empowering the teachers who educate our mokopuna. 
In 2004 over 23000 Maori trainees participated in industry training and Modern Apprenticeships. That number has increased since our Government has provided additional funding. We will further boost Modern Apprenticeships with 5000 more places. 
Hon Tau Henare 
: How many graduates? 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA 
: How do we know how many graduated? We know how many graduated by seeing the full capacity now in the workforce—91 percent of all Maori who want to work are working. Last week this country had the lowest unemployment rate in the world—at 3.2 percent I tell Mr Henare. The rate of unemployment for Maori is 2½ times higher than that and we will close that gap. We will not let it be relevant—like the chasm of intolerance that was imbued into the last election campaign in this country by that mob over on the Opposition benches. Our overall target is to have 250000—a quarter of a million—of our people in industry training. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: When am I going to get my briefing? 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA 
: At this point I would like to acknowledge the new Maori rangatira in the National Party the shadow Minister of Maori Affairs Mr Gerry Brownlee. He has been writing to me continually about a briefing that I know he will enjoy immensely because it is over-endowed with a whole lot of successes and incredible progress going forward. [ 
Interruption 
] It will happen when we are ready. 
I was encouraged by the speech of the member for Hamilton East. He spoke about the youthfulness there and it was fascinating. It is great to know that between 3000 and 4000 young people turned up at the university when Helen Clark spoke there and that they expressed their keenness to continue supporting this Government. 
Hon Member 
: There were 4000 for the speaker the week before. 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA 
: I certainly want to get back to the insidious chasm that has been encouraged by that member over there on the Opposition benches and I agree with Dr Sharples’ rendition yesterday when he spoke about people of kaki whero—red-necked people—engineering and trying to make out that all Maori are wrapped up in issues that are mad bad and sad. That Maori culture is a unique culture is a matter of indifference in this country. I get sick and tired of the platitudes of everybody who cheers the All Blacks on. Those people spend too much time on reading the sports part of the national newspapers to try to find out who is in the team. But their chests and their hearts—and especially Mr Brownlee’s arms—really rattle and wiriwiri and they shake with great agreement and great passion when they are supporting the Maoris doing the haka. 
Those people should understand this: Maori are above merely doing the haka. That is an important part as Dr Sharples will tell people but the days of Maori being dependent and not being involved in enterprise—being business managers and business-owners—and having a better life are over. This Government has certainly made sure of that. The issue is about Maori succeeding as Maori; it is most certainly about making sure that Maori do position themselves well. Ninety-nine percent of the people who are my age in Maoridom—that is Dr Sharples’ age; Tau Henare is a bit younger—are the children of manual labourers. So if we understand the international nuances of indigenous transition we realise we are right in the guts of it now. Let me tell people this: in the next 5 to 10 years especially with the support of this Government we will see some of the most prolific advancement ever made by Maoridom. It is unstoppable and that is because Maori support it—and not just an ex - Minister of Maori Affairs who is just huffing and puffing over nothing. 
Maori advancement is about what we did in the Budget last year. We will remove student loan interest and ensure that whatever students get loans on is relevant. The outcome will be that they get qualifications that will help them to move forward in their lives. There will be 20 hours’ free early childhood education. [ 
Interruption 
] This is real stuff; if members listen they may learn. This advancement is about the needy and about pushing a lot of our people forward—not the right’s dictum about the greedy which is that if we give all those big tax cuts at the top end it will engender a whole lot of business advancement. That dictum is trapped in all of the macro rather than understanding where the majority of our people are at—but we are getting out of there. At the end of the day we do have capable Maori assets. Progress has happened and if we get to places like that on the Government side of the House Maori advancement is about the minimum wage going up six times in the last 6 years. It is about sharing the wealth and about ensuring that parents and other people who want to re-enter the workforce stay there. It is about creating a strong labour market. 
 Our menu for this year is quite simple: it is about getting Maori into better education and better employment and it is about getting Maori into enterprise. The belief that is engendered a lot of the time by redneck misinformed people or by those media that do not want to see Maori go forward needs to be corrected and to go where we are going. 
This Minister of Maori Affairs could shear sheep even though he got asthma when Bill English was using blunt gear. This Minister could shear sheep. This Minister does know how to shear 500 sheep—not now but he used to be able to—and this Minister understands and enjoyed that labour market when we collectively went to work. Whether we were cutting scrub fencing working for the post and telegraph department working on the wharves working in the factories or working in the freezing works we were trapped into being the followers and the people who supported the labour—I ask members to excuse the pun. We are—people like me; the leaders in my age group—the children of manual labourers. But that is changing. I think one of the most fascinating things that I have seen globally with regard to other indigenous cultures is that people can either stay there and be made to believe they are mad bad and sad or they can get on with it and get going. That is where Maori want to be with or without those members’ prattle but most of all with the support of this Government. 
I would encourage Opposition members to understand that Maori are going to make their mark in this country and they will be in all those arenas. It will be about getting better levels of education and most certainly will involve the sciences. We are more than able to take all the brickbats and all the nonsense that comes but by Jove I have a lot of faith in young Maori who want to go somewhere and be somewhere irrespective of the construct breakdown and irrespective of the ups and downs in our people. 
Debate interrupted.