March 22, 2023
Henare defending Auckland Maori budget
Independent Maori Statutory Board deputy chair Tau Henare says Maori spending should be fenced off from Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown’s budget cuts.
Mr Henare says Maori have never had a fair shake in the 10 years of the super city, and what little putea has been set aside has been under-spent.
He says there are plenty of other places to look to fill in the $250 million budget shortfall rather than make Maori feel even more left out.
“We are ratepayers as well as anyone else and even the renters pay their rates in a way. Maori have got a stake in the city and if they are continually treated in a basically haphazard way, then that is what you will get from the community,” he says.
Mr Henare says the Independent Maori Statutory Board feels it is constantly fighting a rear guard action against the council bureaucracy.