August 05, 2020
Māori spend not doing the business says Nats
National’s Māori development spokesperson, Jo Hayes, says the Government’s Māori spend is heavy on social spending and light on Māori business.
Labour is going into the election campaign pointing to spending more than $1.5 billion on Māori specific initiatives, including $900 million in Budget 2020.
But Ms Hayes, who is standing against Kris Faafoi in the Labour stronghold of Mana, says only 15 minutes of last week’s appropriations debate was set aside to scrutinize that Māori spend.
"It’s just an insult. You missed out Māori economy, Māori business, you mainly gave it for welfare and now you have only given us 15 minutes to talk about it. When we start looking at things like that, National is going to be much better and offer much more for Māori," she says.
Jo Hayes says she’s confident National will go better than polls show in the election, given the packed halls she is seeing for new leader Judith Collins.
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