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Labour has been criticised for not delivering an increase in the Budget for Māori and Māori development. The critics have come to this conclusion based on the single fact that the money allocated to Vote Māori Affairs and therefore Te Puni Kōkiri did not increase.
Of little importance to the critics was the fact that when Labour came to government in 1999, $55.224 million was allocated to Vote Māori Affairs; this year Vote Māori Affairs received $156.99m - an increase of over $100m; 200 percent.
The National Party associate spokespeople for Māori affairs have been very critical that Māori Affairs Minister Parekura Horomia did not seek an increase in funding. The irony here is that these people belong to a party who are opposed to race-based funding and have said that if they were government they would "get rid" of Te Puni Kōkiri. You can't have it both ways!
Without a doubt, Budget 2006 improves the social and economic well being of Māori by continuing to deliver for Māori through the strengthening of core services.
The extension to Working for Families assistance for low and middle-income families with children will provide tax relief to 85,000 more families. By next year, 350,000 families will be getting $1.6 billion every year - that's tax relief of $88 a week on average. Many of these families will be working Māori families, who are not highly represented among the wealthiest and who tend to have bigger families.
As of late November 2005, Childcare Assistance was being paid for 37,500 children; and 11,200, or 30 percent, of those children were Māori.
Māori will benefit from investment across the education sector. There's an additional $166.4 million of tertiary education initiatives in Budget 2006.
The number of Modern Apprenticeships will be expanded to 14,000 by Dec 2008. 1150 young Māori are undertaking workplace training through the Modern Apprenticeship scheme (14 percent of the participation total).
The provision of interest free student loans will further enhance the current high levels of Māori tertiary participation.
The expansion of Te Kōtahitanga, a professional development programme will help teachers to better engage Māori and Pasifika students.
There has been much said about the "axing" of the Manaaki Tauira fund. Manaaki Tauira was designed to increase Māori student participation. In 1998 the proportion of the Māori population in formal tertiary education was 7.4 percent. By 2003 it had increased to 20.2 percent.
What's not widely reported is that in recent years fewer than 11 percent of Māori students actually accessed the fund. All Māori students were eligible, yet last year only about 9000 of the approximate 88,000 Māori students received the scholarship, which was on average less than $500 for the year.
Māori health statistics are improving for the first time in two decades, as is our life expectancy. Budget 2006 is providing an additional $3 billion on the health care sector over 4 years.
$80.4m of new funding will be going toward improving outcomes for young New Zealanders. Māori has a youthful population, 37 percent of Māori are aged less than 15 years.
$40.8 million for a strengthened child and adolescent heath service, at school entry level Māori children have almost twice the number of missing or filled teeth than the New Zealand average.
$23.6 million to create a 'school ready' health check for four year olds and expand the number of Well Child checks for pre-school children.
$16 million for the creation of a universal newborn hearing-screening programme, hearing failure rates on school entry hearing tests are higher in Māori children than in the total population.
More than 2000 houses will be added to the state housing network over the next three years. The current occupancy rates for Māori in State houses is more than 30 percent, therefore based on that figure we can expect more than 600 Māori families to be housed in affordable and decent conditions over the next three years.
Budget 2006, amongst a host of other initiatives not already mentioned, also confirmed that this Labour-led Government will continue its investment in realising Māori potential so that all Māori will enjoy success on their own terms - that is - Māori succeeding as Māori. If Māori succeed New Zealand succeeds. Budget 2006 delivers to Māori.
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