9. GERRY BROWNLEE (Deputy Leader—National) Link to this
to the Minister of Maori Affairs
Was the closing the gaps policy successful?
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA (Minister of Māori Affairs) Link to this
The results speak for themselves. They include the lowest level of Māori unemployment on record and the highest wage growth for Māori. Māori participation in early childhood and tertiary education is the highest on record. More Māori are involved in business. There are strong efforts to make a go at improving Māori health.
Does the Minister stand by his statement in the House on 25 May of this year that “this Government has achieved a 30 percent decline in Māori poverty”, given that the Ministry of Social Development has shown that the number of Māori living in severe hardship has increased 243 percent under his ministry?
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA Link to this
Yes, I do. Using two internationally recognised income-poverty measures with poverty thresholds set at 50 and 60 percent of the median household income, the Ministry of Social Development has estimated that after the full implementation of Working for Families there will be a 70 percent reduction in child poverty at the lower threshold, and a 30 percent reduction in child poverty at the highest threshold.
Pita ParaoneTēnā koe, Madam Speaker. How has closing the gaps assisted in addressing concerns regarding the escalating rates of diabetes, thus minimising any possible threat of Māori becoming extinct before the end of the century, as warned by Professor Paul Zimmet, director of Monash University’s International Diabetes Institute?
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA Link to this
Building on the closing the gaps policy, the Government’s initiatives to help New Zealanders into homeownership—including the Welcome Home Loan package and the establishment of Kiwibank, KiwiSaver, and the homeownership education programme—are very clear, and the Government can do a lot more in relation to diabetes and all those sicknesses. But we do not see miles and miles of long, lengthy queues outside the food banks, as we did when that party was in Government, and we do not see people sleeping in cars any more, as they did then. We are doing something about it.
Rodney HideI raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. I enjoyed that answer enormously, but, unfortunately, the Minister is required to address the question. My colleague Mr Paraone’s question was about diabetes—
Madam SPEAKERThe question was actually about diabetes, not about KiwiSaver, or homeownership, or getting into houses. Maybe if the Minister could draw it together a bit and say that somehow that will pick up diabetes, the House might be somewhat—
I thank the member. I got the gist of his point of order, and towards the end of the Minister’s answer, although I will say that members were starting to barrack again, I did hear him address the matter of diabetes.
Does the Minister accept that diabetes currently accounts for one in every five Māori deaths compared to one in every 25 non-Māori deaths, and the Ministry of Health reports that if current Government policies remaining the same, by 2020 one in every three Māori will die of diabetes compared to one in every 20 non-Māori; if so, what is he doing to fix that?
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA Link to this
What has to be understood alongside that is that Māori are decreasing in the negative statistics three to four times quicker than Pākehā. The percentage gap the member is using is painting a dastardly picture. We understand that that is the case, and this Government’s policies are certainly trying to ensure that that percentage is not real. I can tell the member, and the person who has gone further than dictating—like a certain person talked about the derivation of our blood—that we will still be here in 50 years’ time, irrespective of the māuiui.
What specifically is the Minister doing to address the current appalling statistics for diabetes among Māori; and what will he do to ensure that by 2020 one in every three Māori is not dying from diabetes?
Shane ArdernHon PAREKURA HOROMIA Link to this
That is right, exercise is part of this. The Government is committed to that in the sense of Fruit in Schools, better regulating forms of obesity, getting New Zealanders off the couch and into being more active, including us too—getting us off the couch and being more active. We are putting a lot into it. At the end of 2007 we will be injecting $1.6 billion in Working for Families, which will make a difference with better housing standards and ensuring that health improves.
Hon Pete HodgsonCan the Minister confirm that under his Government there has been a substantial increase in the “Get Checked” programme enrolments from Māori; a substantial increase in the Care Plus programme enrolments for Māori; that the primary health care strategy is designed to take a population-based approach to disease, especially as it reduces inequalities that exist in our society; that last month the policy on very low fees was rolled out to those primary health organisations that often deal specifically with Māori populations; and that, for the most part, these moves have for years been staunchly opposed by the National Party opposite?
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA Link to this
Proudly, most certainly yes. In areas like Wairarapa, where diabetes is high, let that lot over there remember that they sold 13,000 State houses, put people out on the road, and set a market rent. This Government brought that down. We share and care for our people in relation to diabetes, so do not come at that.
No, I just want to remind members, including Ministers when they are addressing questions, that shouting does not necessarily aid the hearing of the answer. I also ask members who both ask and answer questions to do so succinctly.
I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. You addressed a bit of my point of order, but it goes like this. We saw several breaches of the Standing Orders. The first thing was that the Minister of Health, who asked the question, actually answered it. I am sure that if members of the Opposition were in a position whereby they could ask a question and answer it at the same time, they would take that opportunity. The second thing is that the Minister is required to answer a question briefly and to the point. When the Minister said yes, he had done so. He did not need to go into a long rant, as interesting as it was, about State housing and what the National Party might have—
I thank you, Mr Hide, but you have made your point and, as you said, I had addressed it. I hope members heard it.
How can the Minister claim that he has closed the gaps for Māori when the employment gap between Māori and non-Māori has widened under Labour, and when the Ministry of Social Development—the very organisation whose figures he just quoted—reported this year that the employment rate for Pākehā has increased 88 percent faster than the employment rate for Māori, and if one randomly picked an unemployed New Zealander off the street, the chance that that person will be a Māori is now greater under a Labour Government?
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA Link to this
That difference in relation to the labour market has been there for a long, long time. The closest the gap has ever been is right now. When we came into Government, the unemployment register for Māori was 50,000. What is it now? It is 13,500. That is about skills and knowledge, and about making sure that our people get a better life—
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA Link to this
No. The minimum wage has been increased seven times. So there has been a real prop up in relation to employment. I ask that member to go back and check his record in his Government’s time.
I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. The Minister might want to clarify his answer. Did we hear him say that the cure for Māori diabetes was to repurchase 13,000 State houses?
What does he say to Tahi and Marama, social workers in Hamilton, who told the Waikato Times on 12 August that they have been forced into a generational poverty trap; talked of their anger that their oldest son could get ahead only if he was to cut his ties with his family and his wider whānau by moving to Melbourne to get a decent wage; that they have yet to see any benefits in their community from the Working for Families programme; and that the best thing they thought the Government could do for them, and other low-income New Zealanders, was introduce some decent tax cuts?
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA Link to this
I find that a bit rich coming from that member, because a lot of people go to Melbourne. I do not know the case, but if he refers it to me, I will certainly look at it. I want to talk about the tax cuts. This Government wants to ensure that the benefit of its expenditure is used to make sure that less well-off families are well cared for—not like that member, who tries to look after his rich mates.