12. Hon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU (National) Link to this
to the Minister of Maori Affairs
How does he measure the success of the Māori Potential Approach?
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA (Minister of Māori Affairs) Link to this
The Māori Potential Approach is about how Te Puni Kōkiri thinks, and about the approach it uses to prioritise all of its efforts. The basis for measuring Te Puni Kōkiri’s effectiveness is described in its statement of intent; so are the outcome indicators that measure Māori success. Te Puni Kōkiri will monitor Government contributions towards Māori success.
Hon Georgina te Heuheu Link to this
Does the Minister count as one of the successes in terms of realising his Māori Potential Approach the fact that Māori unemployment has dropped more slowly than the drop for non-Māori, with the result that almost 37 percent of people now on the unemployment benefit are Māori, compared with just 31 percent when he first took over as Minister?
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA Link to this
If we move it back to the percentages, let us remember that when we came in the unemployment rate was riding at 22 percent. That member is playing around with figures in different quantums. Right now more Māori are in work than there have ever been. The increase in the average income of Māori in the workforce is better than it has ever been. More Māori are getting degrees, more Māori are owning their own businesses, and more Māori children are in early childhood education. We are not a dependent people. More Māori are working, with different skills and at different levels, than ever occurred in the time that those people over there were in Government.
Hon Georgina te Heuheu Link to this
How will the Government help Māori to realise their potential, when it fails to address underlying issues recently identified by the World Health Organization in April this year, such as a shorter life expectancy, fewer disability-free years, higher rates of preventable illness, a poor prognosis for cancer, and increasing school truancy rates for Māori?
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA Link to this
In relation to when we came into office, dare I mention that this Government has been talking about arresting obesity—dare I mention those issues—and diabetes, and everything else. We have made sure that schoolchildren are better fed, more healthy, and whatever else. Those issues have been around for a long, long time. I also say there has been a dramatic decrease in health issues under the great effort of this Minister of Health, Pete Hodgson.
Hon Georgina te Heuheu Link to this
How can Māori trust a Minister who promised to close the gaps between Māori and non-Māori, but who participated in cancelling the closing the gaps policy, then tried to hide his failure by telling the House in August 2001 that internal reports on closing the gaps would continue, although admitting in answer to a written question in April of this year—2007—that he has not received any such reports since May 2000, which is 15 months before he indicated that he was receiving some?
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA Link to this
It was Tau Henare who said he would close the gaps; it was us who picked it up. Let us get the story right. At the end of the day, as we said in the select committee this morning, when we first came into Government monitoring and evaluation were about blunt instruments like policing at the end of the activity. This ministry and this Government have ensured that we get in at the front end, in the sense of developing the outcomes and making sure that a whole lot of the outcomes that are positive for Māori are recognised in this nation.
Hon Georgina te Heuheu Link to this
I seek leave of the House to table a series of papers. The first one is a document showing Ministry of Social Development statistics that indicate that the gap between Māori and non-Māori is widening.
Hon Georgina te Heuheu Link to this
I seek leave to table a paper referring to the World Health Organization report of 2007 that details inequalities among Māori communities.
Hon Georgina te Heuheu Link to this
I seek leave to table a paper outlining a series of question and answers before the Māori Affairs Committee in August 2001, in which the Minister indicated he was receiving reports.
Hon Georgina te Heuheu Link to this
I seek leave to table an extract from Hansard in 2007 with questions on closing the gaps and monitoring reports, which shows that 15 months before the Minister said he was receiving them, he was not.
Madam SPEAKER