July 25, 2013
Groundwork laid for funding increase
The chair of the Auckland Independent Māori Statutory Board is confident the next Auckland council will be more willing to spend money on Māori purposes.
David Taipari says in the three years the board has worked alongside the council, the relationship has matured, and there is now a better attitude around the table.
The board was able to secure the sum of around $3 million it needed to operate, but it wasn’t as successful in its bid to get $30 million in Maori projects included in the long term annual plan funding.
"What we have identified is quite a minimum at $7 million but with the implementation programmes we are working on, the treaty audit, and the Māori Plan responsiveness framework, I can see that $29.5 million per annum being raised over the next term and beyond so I am very hopeful we can convince council they need to meet that level of funding in order to contribute to Maori outcomes throughout the Auckland region," Mr Taipari says.
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