October 29, 2015
Homeless away from home plight for Mozzies
Maori Party co-leader Marama Fox says the Government needs to be putting more pressure on its Australian counterpart about the plight of New Zealanders across the Tasman.
Mrs Fox is in Sydney to speak at the annual conference of the Aboriginal National Congress.
She has also met with Maori communities to discuss not just the current problems with deportations of prisoners, but the multitude of problems that have arisen from changes to the status of New Zealanders made back in 2001.
One group feeding up to 500 homeless people a night, of whom at least 40 percent are kiwi, is funded completely from private donations because of tough government rules.
"Social services, if they take government funding, are not allowed to feed Kiwis, because they are not entitled to support. You are not allowed to use it for Kiwis. It just is absurd and it is becoming a dire situation here and we really need to be putting greater political pressure on this Australian government," Mrs Fox says.
She says the prejudice is leading to situations like untreated mental illness and a high Maori suicide rate in some states.
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