National’s Te Tai Hauāuru candidate, Harete Hipango, says poverty of spirit may be doing more damage to Māori than economic poverty.
She says National makes no apologies for promoting education and hard work as the foundations for success – but it party realises many Maori are trapped in the poverty cycle and need help to rise above it.
Ms Hipango says the importance of whanau and community support for mental wellbeing always comes up when she talks with her whanaunga, Dame Tariana Turia,
“We’ve often talked about the poverty of spirit. We’ve been stricken with material hardship, but the importance is that we come together as whanau, as communities, to manaaki and to awhi. There’s not enough of that happening,” she says.
Ms Hipango says cost of living and housing are her highest priorities for this election.
