Maori cuts at MFAT

I find it difficult to get worked up about MFAT cutting their Maori Policy Unit. The obvious question is: why does the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, key word foreign affairs and trade, need a Maori policy group. I can understand why, say, Tourism NZ would need a Maori policy team. Maori culture is a unique selling point. Having said that, I suppose I’ve just highlighted why MFAT needs a Maori policy unit. In terms of trade, Maori culture is a unique selling point. The Maori Policy Unit, I imagine, advocates the Maori economy overseas and helps overseas governments etc understand the place of Maori in New Zealand and so on. Without a Maori Policy Unit, there’s a hole. Most Pakeha, and by extension diplomats, have no, not even the slightest, grasp on Maori culture, the Maori economy, Maori exporters, the place of Maori in New Zealand and the like.

I guess it’s worrying. When MFAT does need Maori experts they can’t farm it out to Te Puni Kokiri. That Ministry is going to be a shell of its former self and, I think it is fair to assume, will only have the capacity to perform internal tasks. MFAT is looking to hire a Kaumatua. However, a Kaumatua will only consult on cultural aspects, I doubt the Kaumatua will be qualified to work on broader Maori issues.

All this, the Maori cuts at MFAT and the cuts at TPK, amount to a sustained attack on Maori in government. What’s next? Cuts to Te Taura Whiri? Smashing the Maori Policy Units in other Ministries? A funding freeze at Maori TV?

It’s a shame that the Maori Party and the Mana Party are nowhere on this issue. Labour, the Greens and NZ First are all over it, but taking a broader approach. They know that the majority of NZders support scrapping anything with the word Maori in front of it so they’ll tread carefully. With that in mind, it’s up to the Maori Party and Mana to oppose this.

More on TPK and the Maori Party

The picture at TPK is becoming a little clearer. Pita Sharples has finally released a statement, a short one at that, expressing his support for staff. Sharples claims:

“How the Ministry manages their fiscal pressures and efficiency dividend is of course an operational matter for management. I expect to be consulted on the Chief Executive’s proposals for how Te Puni Kokiri continues to deliver the most effective services to the public, within the budget they have been allocated,” he said.

Firstly, passing the ball to management is a cop out. But most importantly, Sharples statement is, if one reads between or beyond the lines, a couched endorsement of the cuts. The Maori Party made no secret of their intentions to reform TPK, but I don’t think anyone knew their intentions were to cut jobs.

Winston Peters continues to hammer away at the Maori Party. He accuses the party of gutting TPK as a trade off for increased funding for Whanau Ora. Parekura Horomia also highlights the inadequacy of the Maori Party’s “at the table” argument. Horomia notes that as a Minister outside of Cabinet Sharples was unable to fight for the survival of TPK when Cabinet, or the appropriate Cabinet Committee, was thrashing out the details. However, that logic assumes the Maori Party actually wanted restructuring at TPK to be neutral, meaning no cuts, no increases, just a reshuffle. I tend to think the Maori Party supported cuts all along.

The Maori Party isn’t attacking National’s decision to impose cuts, nor is the party publicly lobbying for cuts to be deferred or cancelled. Instead, the party has remained silent, bar Sharples one statement expressing support for people who are about to lose their jobs. It appears the Maori Party wanted this, they just don’t want to wear the consequences. Hence Sharples attempt to deflect this as an operational matter.

What support the Maori Party clawed back with their threat to leave National has now evaporated. I struggle to see how the party has any future post-2014.

Te Puni Kokiri to face cuts (updated)

Hone Harawira has revealed that Te Puni Kokiri, the Ministry of Maori Development, is in line for massive cuts:

The restructure of TPK is said to include:
• Major redundancies
• Closure of many branch offices
• Reducing TPK’s role to social issues (education, employment and housing)
• The removal of major responsibilities (economic development, Matauranga Maori including WAI 262, Marae Development, the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Cultural and Intellectual Property Rights, Te Reo Maori, Broadcasting, Land and Resource Development, and Whanau Ora)

This doesn’t come as a surprise. Wellington rumour has had it that TPK was always in the government’s sights, it was just a matter of when.

TPK advises the government, including other government agencies, on all issues Maori. From Maori economic development to Maori social well being. TPK has a $60m budget, employs over 300 staff and operates, from my count, 21 offices including a head office in Wellington. Media reports so far have indicated that 50 jobs will go. This comes on top of 60 redundancies and an $8m funding cut in the last three years.

The Maori Party signalled their intentions to restructure TPK prior to the election. This was consistent with their intentions pre-2008, but upon taking office Pita Sharples backed down and assured TPK employees that there would be no cuts. I would have imagined the Maori Party’s idea of restructuring differed radically from National’s understanding of the word. The Maori Party would be thinking reshuffle, but National would be thinking redundancies. However, judging from the Maori Party's silence on redundancies one can assume that they support the cuts.

In my opinion, TPK probably doesn't need to be restructered. The Ministry has one of the widest briefs of any department, but is, relatively speaking, small in terms of staff numbers and budget. As above, TPK has already downsized significantly, but its workload has increased. In 2010 TPK was tasked with planning, implementing and evaluating the Maori response to the Canterbury earthquake. That same year TPK was given responsibility for developing, implementing and evaluating Whanau Ora.

Sure, TPK has come under fire in the past and rightly so. For example, in 2010 Leith Comer, the CEO of TPK, advised staff not to work so hard following their, in my opinion, excellent work in the wake of the Canterbury earthquake. However, that same year TPK, apparently, rated highly in performance reviews. This contradicts information from TVNZ that TPK was judged the worst performing ministry in an independent survey.

If the government decides to go ahead with a demolition job on TPK the quality of advice Ministers and government agencies receive will be poor to pathetic. The DPMC doesn’t have the in-house capabilities to properly and expertly advise Ministers on Maori issues. No other government agency has the in-house capabilities either. The result will be a government that fumbles Maori issues.

Ordinary Maori will also be hit. Many Maori will lose their jobs if, or when, regional offices are closed. Maori trying to access TPK services, like business grants and advice, will have to deal with a decreased service.

Once again Hone Harawira is on top of this. He's slammed the Maori Party and National. He's taken the high road while the Maori Party is left searching for an appropriate response. Like their response to the s9 controversy, they've found themselves on the back foot. On Closeup last night Pita Sharples didn't show, instead Leith Comer did. Actually, Sharples refused to front any media yesterday. It looks like he's running from this. The same is true today, Winston Peters and Hone Harawira fronted Morning Report and poured acid on the Maori Party and National. Labour also released a statement criticising the cuts.

Hone Harawira, Annette Sykes and even Winston Peters are landing blow after blow on the Maori Party. It's almost cruel to watch, then again they brought it upon themselves.

Come Waitangi day, the government is going to find itself in a tight spot with Maori. S9 was a big issue for Maori and cuts at TPK will be another kick in the guts. Expect a lot of noise come Monday.

The Budget and what it means for Maori

The Government delivered the budget yesterday. New Zealanders expected Bill English to deliver a strict budget, but yesterday’s dose of austerity went beyond reason. To be fair, the government is attempting to reduce the deficit and return to surplus within the next few years. However, the prescription the Nats put forward is damaging and visionless. Most New Zealanders will be worse off under this budget. Bill English has taken the knife to Working For Families, KiwiSaver, education (including student loans) and health. But what does it all mean for Maori?

Firstly, the Budget is not all bad news. Funding for community law centres will be increased and Whanau Ora will be boosted by $30m. Iwi will also have the opportunity to invest in State Assets (whether this will benefit Maori is open to debate) and there is $20m in new funding for Maori education. There is $25m in new funding for social services as well and $2m to support Maori engagement with the constitutional review.

Having said that, this is peanuts. Take Whanau Ora, one cannot deliver a high quality nationwide system with only $30m. $30m will deliver a half-caste shitty version in a couple of centres, but $30m will not deliver a nationwide revolutionary approach to social services. Take the funding for Maori education as well. The funding is spread across four years and will not address the causes of Maori underachievement. The funding is targeted at language initiatives and transport assistance. Nice to haves really. The funding should be addressing the structural causes of Maori underachievement, like whether or not Maori are suited to the learning environment adopted in most schools.

The big win for Maori, or more accurately iwi, is asset sales. The iwi leaders have made no secret of their intention to snap up shares in our SOE’s when the companies are floated. I personally think that there is more benefit for Maori in having SOE’s remain in government hands. However, I am aware that some would mount a compelling argument otherwise. The government intends to partially privatise Air New Zealand and four energy companies. Maori are big players in the energy sector, especially geothermal power, and I am sure iwi will not miss the chance to solidify their place at the top of the sector. Tainui has also, in the past at least, shown interest in Auckland Airport and Air New Zealand – two of New Zealand’s most important strategic assets. Tuku Morgan must be frothing at the mouth at the thought of the opportunity to get his hands on a small part of Air New Zealand.

In this post I also want to outline some of the big changes that will affect Maori. I’ll start with Working For Families:      

Working For Families

Working For Families cuts are not confined to high income earners. Middle and low income earners will be affected as well through a combination of lower thresholds, higher abatements and payment freezes. The changes will be phased in over seven years. A middle income family on $70,000 will be $20 worse off per week. The government provides a number of examples that show an increase in payments for low income families, however the figures do not take into account inflation. Families are actually facing a decrease in WFF payments in real terms. A large number of Maori whanau access WFF so any changes will adversely affect the standard of living for Maori. With the rising cost of living many Maori fail to balance the budget each week. With WFF cuts balancing the budget just got harder.  

Education and Health

Education and health are the big winners in today’s budget. Both will receive sub-inflation increases in funding, so in real terms both sectors are facing cuts. Yup, in this budget a sub-inflation increase counts as a win. Cuts to education and health will affect all New Zealanders, but especially Maori. Maori underachievement needs to be addressed, but there is little room in the budget to work towards improving education outcomes for Maori. Essentially, there is little in the budget beyond funding for operational costs. The PPTA claims schools will have to recover the cut in funding through an increase in fees and donations. This means low decile schools, i.e. schools with a significant Maori roll, will suffer as low income parents are less likely to pay donations or meet compulsory fees.

Maori access health care at a higher rate than other New Zealanders. Therefore, a deterioration in services will affect Maori disproportionately. DHB’s will be under further pressure to find areas to cut. I would speculate that some of the first areas to come under the knife will be health initiatives targeted at Maori. Why? Because Maori are not going to fight back.

Student Loans

Students who are in default for more than one year will have their access to student loans restricted. For example, Maori living overseas who, for practical reasons, are not servicing their student loans will not be able to return and access the student loan scheme. Furthermore, access to student loans for those over 55 will be restricted to course fees only and part-time students will no longer be able to access course related costs. This is discriminatory and unfair. Maori will be further discouraged from pursuing higher education. Thanks, National.  

KiwiSaver

The government intends to halve their contribution to your KiwiSaver account and tax employer contributions. The compulsory employee and employer contribution will also rise to 3%. This will deter many low and middle income earners who are feeling the pressure of the rising cost of living. Again, this will disproportionately affect Maori who tend to be low-income earners.

Public Service

The government has signalled an intention to trim almost $1b from the public service. Job insecurity permeates the public service at the moment and today’s budget will add further pressure to cut, cut, cut. Maori make up a significant proportion of the public sector and further job cuts will affect the Maori unemployment rate.

Overall though, Maori will be worse off under this budget. Maori will find it harder to access education, under WFF cuts Maori families will struggle to keep up with the rising cost of living and Maori will find it harder to access decent healthcare. Private debt among Maori will also increase as the KiwiSaver changes begin to take effect. Predictably, there is nothing in the budget to offset this.

Yesterday’s budget would have been the perfect time for the Maori Party to walk away from the supply and confidence agreement and send a message to the Maori electorate. The Maori Party desperately needs to steal the narrative from Hone. The Maori Party MUST steal Hone’s thunder. The party is becoming increasingly irrelevant and will remain so unless they do something in line with Maori interests. Voting for cuts, cuts and more cuts to government spending is not consistent with Maori interests. Should loyalty to the Nats come before what is good for Maori? Fuck no. But the Maori Party seem to think so. I am sick of this bullshit “best to be in government” fantasy that the Maori Party deploy whenever they do something dumb or something counter to what is good for MOST Maori. There is no harm in making a statement in an election year. There is nothing the Maori Party will achieve within the next six months as the Nats are suffering an unacceptable decline in redneck support. The Nats will not feed the perception that they are caving to the Maori Party. If the Maori Party voted against the budget they would have taken one step towards recovering the principled brand they once possessed. But no. The Maori Party have only themselves to blame. They destroyed their brand and seem resolute in not wanting to rebuild it.

If you’re Maori, book a ticket to Australia. Things just got a lot worse here. If things continue the way they are in New Zealand, then I’m out of here once I graduate. There is no future in New Zealand unless you’re Tuku Morgan or Graeme Hart.