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Labour’s welfare spokesperson, Jacinda Ardern, is questioning whether Whānau Ora can survive being thrown out of the nest.
The Minister for Whānau Ora, Tariana Turia, yesterday announced a new governance model for the programme where Māori and Pacific providers work with a range of government agencies to deliver integrated services to families.
The initiative will now be overseen by a Crown-Iwi Whānau Ora Partnership Group comprising senior ministers, iwi chairs and experts on Whānau Ora, with funding decisions made by three non-government organisation commissioning agencies covering the North Island, the South Island and Pacific providers.
Ms Ardern says it seems to cut across the objective of system wide change.
"You know if one of the key aims of Whānau Ora was greater collaboration, inter-agency cooperation, getting government to collaborate in the way they worked with families. The mantra that was used was there wasn't five cars up the driveway, there was only one. How do we achieve that when this new contracting system, the way they want to operate, cuts government out almost entirely," she says.
Ms Ardern says the announcement is silent on future funding, and the Government needs to come clean on how much it is prepared to pay for Whānau Ora to continue.
Copyright © 2013, UMA Broadcasting Ltd
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