The co-chair of Labour’s Māori caucus says Māori MPs are pushing hard for more funding for Māori in the first well-being Budget.
Labour MPs spent part of the week at a planning session in Martinborough, and the Ikaroa Rāwhiti MP says it’s a year when the Government will be expected to start delivering on the 200 policy announcements it has made so far.
But there are choices to be made, as it’s going to take years to recover from National’s tight fisted approach to addressing the needs of New Zealand’s growing population.
"The former Government left a whole lot of gaps around health, housing, roads, schools, so we expected those were big infrastructural areas that need addressing and we understood the first year Budget was to do that but unfortunately the deficit in those key infrastructure areas, what we take in income cannot address them immediately. It is going to take three, four terms to address the deficit that we’re in," Ms Whaitiri says.
She says Māori always seem to be on the sharp end of funding cuts, so they also need a quick start on the recovery.
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