July 07, 2014
Whanau seeking change
Whanau Ora Minister Tariana Turia says the time is over for Maori families to be disempowered by service providers.
The Maori Party co-leader spoke yesterday at the launch of Te Pou Matakana, the new agency that takes over from Te Puni Kokiri the responsibility for commissioning Whanau Ora programmes in the North Island.
She says after just three years Whanau Ora reaches more than 8000 families and 42,000 whanau members.
A wide range of initiatives have come under its umbrella, from helping whanau access Maori Land Court records to growing and harvesting kai.
Mrs Turia says whanau are clear that long-term change could only happen if it was led by themselves, and they say Whanau Ora is bringing families back together.
"I think those are critical and really important things for all of us to understand because for too long our families have been done to and done for. And those days have to be over. We have to look at the potential, find the leadership within our families," she says.
Mrs Turia says long term the job of the commissioning agencies is not to continue to provide services to and for families, but to build up whanau capacity to do it for themselves.
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