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The Whānau Ora Minister says he has now decided how to allocate money in the Budget to widen the scope of the programme.
Peeni Henare has come under fire from the North Island Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency, whose chair Merepeka Raukawa-Tait this week lodged a claim with the Waitangi Tribunal saying money had been diverted to government departments like Oranga Tamariki.
He says, in fact, $20 million of the Budget increase was held back to implement the recommendations of the Whānau Ora Review, which identified areas the commissioning agencies could not reach.
That included providers who could not access whānau ora funds because they access health sector funding.
“We’ve had a number of iwi and hapū who are now in post-settlement times, who have asked to consider working with the government on an overall package through not just their settlements but working with the government in how they might increase the lot for their whānau within their hapū or their iwi so there were all these opportunities,” Mr Henare says.
Four projects have been identified for funding, and the surplus of $3 million will be shared among the commissioning agencies.
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