May 29, 2017
Shiny van no measure of kohanga
Labour’s Maori Development spokesperson Kelvin Davis says the Maori Party should be embarrassed at how little they secured in the election year budget.
He says if the party is going to sit down at the table with the National-led Government, it should get a slice of the pie rather than just the crumbs.
Even what looks on the surface to be positive turns out to be mis-allocated, such as the $5 million for kohanga reo, which will buy and repair vans.
"Anyone who thinks the measure of a great kohanga is a shiny van parked outside doesn't know education. I understand they buy these vans to pick up kids so they can get to kohanga reo, but the kaiako, the tamariki, the resources, they needed a greater amount of investment," Mr Davis says.
He says Labour would have been able to at least double the $2.5 million a year increase given to whanau ora, and it wouldn’t spend than eight time as much locking up Maori as it would keeping them out of prison.
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