Courtesy of SCOOP Parliament.
Te Ururoa Flavell, MP for Waiariki
Thursday 19 May 2011; 8.15pm
TE URUROA FLAVELL (Māori Party—Waiariki)245FLAVELL, TE URUROA20:14:28Tēnā koe, talofa lava, ki a tātou katoa i tēnei pō.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak at the second reading of the Taxation (Annual Rates and Budget Measures) Bill.
There has been a key word in this Budget: responsibility. The Māori Party is conscious of our responsibility to grow a country that takes us all with it by creating a positive future for every citizen in Aotearoa. We must protect our most vulnerable, and no one must be left behind. Our role in Budget 2011 has been to call for a reasonable Budget that takes account of the sharp edges of recession but also invests in our mokopuna.
Young Māori New Zealanders are particularly critical to the Māori Party—54 percent of Māori are under 25 years of age. We know that when we get the best deal for Māori we get the best deal for New Zealand, for Aotearoa, because New Zealand’s future is in the hands of our future workforce. Our youth, who are increasingly Māori, Pacific, and Asian, need our support now, because their education, their success, will be our support as we grow old. We need to embrace diversity, as it will be through our combined talents and strengths that we can plan for the future.
The Māori Party’s other key theme in shaping Budget 2011 has been in the notion of investing in the future. Our focus on education in this round has been on addressing some fundamental challenges, such as $60 million over 4 years to build new kura kaupapa Māori and upgrade existing school buildings.
I refer to a speech given by the member who tomorrow will be the former member for Te Tai Tokerau, Hone Harawira, who suggested that the Minister of Māori Affairs and the Associate Minister of Education, Dr Pita Sharples, had sold out on kura kaupapa Māori. I do not think so. An extra $60 million over 4 years is pretty helpful. There has been an investment of $3 million over 3 years to support Te Rūnanganui o ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori o Aotearoa to develop a curriculum and associated resources based on the philosophy of Te Aho Matua, and another $8 million—I say another $8 million—over 4 years to realign kura transport assistance, which has been capped since 1995 with mainstream schools. There has been $6.5 million to expand family-based literacy programmes to all decile 1, 2 and 3 schools, building on the current Reading Together programme. That is awesome—that is awesome—and it could not have come about without the help and assistance, and, indeed, the promoting, of the Māori Party in this programme with the National Government.
These are just a few of the new initiatives that the Māori Party has achieved in Budget 2011. We say it is about whāia te rangatiratanga—taking control of our destiny.
If we look at Whānau Ora, we see that that best embodies the concept of shaping our future, taking responsibility for our own solutions, and being successful by trusting in a collective model. This, again, is where the Māori Party comes in terms of getting National to change the paradigm. That has been important.
I want to return to the key planks in Budget 2011 of protecting the vulnerable and investing in the future in relation to this taxation bill. With KiwiSaver, of course, we are concerned about the impact that the proposed changes will have on the vulnerable. But also, and in line with the concept of whāia te rangatiratanga, in taking control of our destiny we need to also look at the wider issues around creating a savings culture. We accept that New Zealand has a poor savings culture, and we need to address this. High levels of household spending have fuelled inflation pressures over recent years, and New Zealanders have spent more than they earned. Consequently, the pressure on promoting the concept of savings is paramount, so we are conscious of the need to plan for what has been called the “silver tsunami”—caring for the baby boomer generation.
While savers and employers will have to pay more in the move to make this scheme more affordable over the long term, the Government is reducing its commitment, and this may have a backlash effect in terms of discouraging savers and employers. Our other concern is whether the changes might prove unaffordable for lower and middle income constituents already struggling to cope with rising costs. We believe that those people on lower incomes should carry less of a burden, proportionately, than those who are on higher income levels, and we will be concerned if any disincentive to save, such as through increased payments, would cause them either not to enter the scheme or to take contribution holidays. But we are pleased that the changes will not happen overnight.
TE URUROA FLAVELL245 This will give people and businesses more time to adjust. I come back to the key word: responsibility. We heard that KiwiSaver currently costs the Government $1.1 billion and that by halving the Government’s contribution to KiwiSaver we would save around $600 million per annum. That amount of savings has to be good for the nation The other big focus in this taxation bill is related to changes around Working for Families. From this legislation it would appear that Working for Families will be better targeted at low-income families, who have a much greater need for assistance, and a little less generous to the families higher up the scale.
We support this change and we support the intention to do it gradually in a way that minimises the impact on families. Outside the scope of this bill but well within the ambit of our focus is the fact that the Working for Families package, as such, offers no poverty relief for benefit-dependent families. It does not sufficiently address poverty, or, more to the point, child poverty in Aotearoa. Although we support the refocusing of Working for Families to support the most vulnerable participants in the scheme, of course we cannot ignore the situation of so many of our families who are not even eligible for the scheme. We have a commitment to eliminate poverty; poverty reflects worse on those who have but do not share than on the have-nots.
We will continue to advocate for the protection of the vulnerable, the elderly and the young, and the disadvantaged. We will continue to focus on restoring whānau responsibility and on investing in the future. Education is not a cost but an investment in the future prosperity of the nation. For the purposes of the second reading of this bill we are prepared to support the second reading.
Siena's whakaaro...
Our youth All youth from Aotearoa are our 'Future', and the KEYS are the timely and effective investment in our youth for their prosperous futures, both economically and socially.
Child poverty and high unemployment youth levels attest to New Zealand's failure to meet the criteria of successful investment in our youth.
An encompassing youth strategy is needed to adequately equip the younger generation for the future; a future that is characterized by rapid changes, the complexities of globalisation, the development of the knowledge society and our ageing population. Demographic trends make the need more pressing: the pressures of supporting our growing ageing population will fall upon a declining number of workers, implying on the one hand the increased importance of their productivity and on the other hand the need to better balance intergenerational contracts.
The key to successful youth policies in my opinion, is to ensure that people can make the most of the opportunities they have. Individual responsibilities and incentives are important not only to cater to individual taste and capabilities but also to prevent life style diseases and inadequate formation of human capital OR costly waste of social capital.
If we look at Whānau Ora, we see that the best embodies the concept of shaping our future, taking responsibility for our own solutions and being successful by trusting in a collective model. Changing National's paradigm has of course been very important and a positive step forward.
The role of authorities is to stimulate, encourage, support and EMPOWER people to take these responsibilities, to facilitate change and to ensure the most efficient use is made of the available resources. In addition, government policies (Quality Policies), are needed to cater for risks that cannot be insured against, for safety net arrangements and to favour second chances.
Empowering the individual is not simply a matter of providing the right incentives for personal investment and guaranteeing returns; it also means providing the individual with the means to effectively adapt to change. An education curriculum thats INSISTS on COGNITIVE and SOCIAL SKILLS enabling the individual to handle a broad range of issues; likewise mental health programmes that focus on providing individuals with the ability to cope when issues arise.
Examples: 'Buddy System for Children' A programme aimed at reinforcing the mental and emotional health of six to seven year-olds.
'Build Up' An interactive programme designed to encourage decision-making and taking responsibility with regard to eating habits ( which successfully, most if not all New Zealand Elementary schools, Intermediates and Colleges have introduced and implemented 'Healthy Foods Only' in their Canteens and what is and is not allowed in school lunches i.e. lollies, fizzy drinks etc), at school through cultural, sports and other participative community programmes i.e. rugby, soccer, netball, softball etc and children need to also develop social and cognitive skills in order to acquire the ability to cope with change and become involved and efficient citizens. Learning to communicate through language at the earliest age is the first and
most crucial skill to acquire, (Being taught one's own native tongue from birth as well as the common language (English), onwards adds and enhances an individual's social skills with others out in the community who would identify easily with the individual enriching their abilities to communicate with ease.
He Mihi ki nga tamariki me nga taitama raua ko nga kotiro KATOA O AOTEAROA...No toku Koroua Tipuna a Ta Apirana Ngata he tito tenei...
E tipu, e rea,
Mō ngā ra o tōu ao;
Ko tō ringa ki ngā rākau a te Pāhekā
Hei ara mō tō tinana,
Ko tō ngākau ki ngā taonga a ā tīpuna Māori
Hei tikitiki mō tō māhuna,
Ā, ko tō wairua ki tō Atua,
Nāna nei ngā mea katoa.
Na, Siena.
Grow up oh tender shoot,
and thrive for the days destined to you.
Your hands to utilise the tools of the Pakeha to provide physical sustenance.
Your heart to the treasures of your ancestors as a diadem for your brow.
Your soul to God to whom all things belong.
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