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Maori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples is rejecting this week’s criticism of Whanau Ora by New Zealand First leader Winston Peters.
Mr Peters claims the minister in charge, Tariana Turia, is showing favouritism in the process to shift control of the scheme from Te Puni Kokiri to non-government organisations.
Dr Sharples says it’s easy to slam Whanau Ora because it doesn’t look like the conventional service delivery model, but that ignores how effective it is at strengthening families that are under stress.
"You know you can’t look at individuals, you’ve got to look at families, we’ve got to strengthen our families, we talk about it all the time, about domestic violence and poverty and so on, and the only way we can relieve that is to work directly with families and give them a place in the sun and that’s what Whanau Ora does," he says.
Dr Sharples says it has taken some time to bed Whanau Ora down, but he’s confident the new funding structure will improve it.
Copyright © 2013, UMA Broadcasting Ltd
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