{"id":4629,"date":"2023-05-18T20:37:41","date_gmt":"2023-05-18T08:37:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/?p=4629"},"modified":"2023-05-18T20:37:41","modified_gmt":"2023-05-18T08:37:41","slug":"budget-2023-whats-in-it-for-maori","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/?p=4629","title":{"rendered":"Budget 2023: What’s in it for M\u0101ori"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Minister for M\u0101ori Development has defended the drop in funding for M\u0101ori-specific initiatives in this year’s Budget, saying these are “very, very tough times”.<\/p>\n

Willie Jackson Labour’s M\u0101ori caucus were “all satisfied” with the $825 million ‘M\u0101ori Budget’, part of Finance Minister Grant Robertson’s “no-frills” Budget, revealed on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Last year, M\u0101ori initiatives\u00a0received a boost of more than $1 billion<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“You must remember this is targeted funding – our people benefit from the overall Budget,” Jackson said. “We’ve got the by M\u0101ori, for M\u0101ori [Budget], but let’s not forget most M\u0101ori are not attached to a lot of our M\u0101ori organisations. There’s going to be huge benefits right across the spectrum.”<\/p>\n

T\u0101maki Makaurau MP Peeni Henare said the $168m Whanau Ora funding boost in particular was “unprecedented”.<\/p>\n

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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Included in the 2023 Budget was:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • $200 million in extra funding to build and repair more homes through the Whai K\u0101inga Whai Oranga programme<\/li>\n
  • $34m over two years for Te Matatini<\/li>\n
  • $18m over four years to ensure “Matariki is funded into the future”<\/li>\n
  • $168.1m over four years for Wh\u0101nau Ora “to ensure immediate needs of communities are met, while working alongside them to meet their long term aspirations”<\/li>\n
  • $132m increased funding for hauora providers, “including cheaper access to primary care, innovation funds for data, more rongo\u0101 services, and provide workforce development”<\/li>\n
  • $225m for M\u0101ori education, including $10m “to help develop the local content needed so schools and kura can work together with mana whenua”<\/li>\n
  • $51m over two years for M\u0101ori media<\/li>\n
  • $11.7m for the Te Ao M\u0101rama programmes in the courts<\/li>\n
  • $8m boost for M\u0101ori tourism to “help the industry continue to recover from Covid-19 disruptions, withstand cost-of-living pressures and also meet increasing demand as international travel resumes”<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    “We continue to put our best foot forward for our wh\u0101nau” Minister for M\u0101ori-Crown Relations Kelvin Davis said in a statement. “With six M\u0101ori ministers within Cabinet, we bring wh\u0101nau voice to the decision-making table.”<\/p>\n

    “Over the past few years M\u0101ori have responded to crises, from supporting each other through a global pandemic, to the response and recovery from the devastation of Cyclone Gabrielle,” Jackson said. “In these tough times economic resilience and security are more important than ever.”<\/p>\n

    Minor parties react<\/h3>\n

    While Te Pati M\u0101ori welcomed parts of the Budget – particularly the boost for Te Matatini, which co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer said was “the exact amount” they wanted – she and her colleague Rawiri Waititi were left disappointed.<\/p>\n

    “It has clearly provided us evidence the focus is more on the middle to rich voter, and it hasn’t addressed the real big elephant in the room – that we have long-term pain from poverty, entrenched poverty in Aotearoa,” Ngarewa-Packer said.<\/p>\n

    Speaking to media, both co-leaders repeatedly questioned why Labour had not made moves to make food more affordable by removing GST and stopping the supermarket duopoly from hiking prices.<\/p>\n

    “They talk about a cost-of-living crisis – in actual fact, we don’t have the privilege of a cost-of-living crisis because we’ve been living in poverty,” Waititi said. “it’s only until those well-to-do can’t afford their boats, can’t afford the secretary at home that there’s now a cost-of-living crisis.”<\/p>\n

    He said it was definitely a “no-frills” Budget, with little to be thrilled about for M\u0101ori.<\/p>\n

    “There are some good things in that Budget, but there are a whole lot of other things that could have made life a lot easier for our people, and those things could happen right now.”<\/p>\n

    Te Pati M\u0101ori also bemoaned the lack of a capital gains tax in Robertson’s package.<\/p>\n

    \n
    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n

    The Green Party’s M\u0101ori caucus said they welcomed “much-needed investment”, but there was “room for improvement”.<\/p>\n

    “We don’t need a ‘no-frills Budget’, we need a fairer tax system,” list MP Teanau Tuiono said. “The money is already there. An excess profits tax and a wealth tax where everyone pays their fair share would allow us to redistribute the money from the wealthiest few to benefit us all.”<\/p>\n

    The Greens also criticised the Budget’s failure to “adequately address the severity of the climate crisis”. About $800 million was cut from the Climate Emergency Response Fund due to a collapse in the price of carbon in the emissions trading scheme.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    VIA RNZ<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The Minister for M\u0101ori Development has defended the drop in funding for M\u0101ori-specific initiatives in this year’s Budget, saying these are “very, very tough times”. Willie Jackson Labour’s M\u0101ori caucus were “all satisfied” with the $825 million ‘M\u0101ori Budget’, part of Finance Minister Grant Robertson’s “no-frills” Budget, revealed on Thursday. Last year, M\u0101ori initiatives\u00a0received a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":4630,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[222,174,5,177],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news","category-nz-news","category-politics","category-world"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4629"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4629\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4631,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4629\/revisions\/4631"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}