POTAKA JUGGLES FOUR FRONTS AS MĀORI POLICY DEBATE INTENSIFIES
Tama Potaka has spent the past fortnight moving across some of the Government’s biggest Māori-facing portfolios, announcing new homelessness support, a refreshed te reo Māori strategy, conservation initiatives and investment in Māori enterprise. As Associate Housing Minister, Potaka announced more than $1 million for homelessness services in Lower Hutt, Hamilton, Upper Hutt and Whangārei, following…
Tama Potaka has spent the past fortnight moving across some of the Government’s biggest Māori-facing portfolios, announcing new homelessness support, a refreshed te reo Māori strategy, conservation initiatives and investment in Māori enterprise.
As Associate Housing Minister, Potaka announced more than $1 million for homelessness services in Lower Hutt, Hamilton, Upper Hutt and Whangārei, following an earlier $14.5 million package targeting rough sleeping. A further $580,000 has been committed to homelessness support in Taranaki.
In Māori Development, Potaka has launched a refreshed Maihi Karauna, the Crown’s Māori language strategy, aimed at increasing the visibility, value and everyday use of te reo Māori.
Economic development is another focus. Earlier this month the Government announced more than $3.4 million through the Māori Development Fund for three Māori enterprises spanning green hydrogen, horticulture and wine exports. That comes as Māori authorities now control $32.6 billion in assets, with the challenge increasingly about converting that economic strength into jobs, incomes and intergenerational prosperity.
Potaka’s Conservation portfolio has also remained busy, including work on community conservation and the Government’s wider overhaul of conservation legislation. The Government says those reforms are intended to modernise the system while improving conservation outcomes and enabling appropriate economic activity.
But the announcements come against a wider political debate over whether the Coalition’s broader programme is improving outcomes for Māori, particularly around housing, education, Te Tiriti, te reo Māori and the cost of living.
For Potaka, one of National’s most senior Māori ministers, the election-year test is increasingly whether the Government can demonstrate that its programme is translating from announcements and investment into measurable improvements for whānau.
