March 16, 2023
Māori Party cyclone putea “madness” says Jackson
Māori Development Minister Willie Jackson says the Māori Party’s calls for a $200 million fund for Maori cyclone relief is nonsense.
The Government has made available $15 million for Maori, and much of it is going to reimburse marae for expenses incurred during and after Cyclone Gabrielle.
He says there will be more coming as needs are identified, and Maori are also able to tap into the other relief funds where appropriate.
“I heard their madness the other day about just writing a $200 million cheque. You don’t do that. We’re trying to work through this systematically and work in tandem with our iwi leaders. We can’t operate where people just send an invoice with no documentation, no breakdown of anything but we’ll have $10 million, $15 million please. Can’t work like that in this time but we can work closely with our people,” Mr Jackson says.
He’s heading back to Gisborne and Wairoa next week to see the recovery effort and discuss how some of the unspent money for Maori housing can be repurposed into getting people back into homes.