Flavell: ‘Helping M¯aori for years’

‘‘We've secured $321m from the budget [for social investment] and influenced the government to look at the cohort that are struggling.’’

Te Ururoa Flavell says his partnership with the National party has enabled him to fight for Ma¯ ori at the top levels of government.

Since 2005, the Ma¯ ori Party MP has won the Waiariki Ma¯ ori electorate. The electorate includes Taupo¯, Rotorua, Tauranga, Reporoa and Whakatane.

Flavell said the National Party had previously secured enough seats through agreements with the ACT and United Future parties but had still agreed to confidence and supply agreements with the Ma¯ori Party to bring them into government.

‘‘The National Party has never needed us to form a government but they’ve asked us to be in with them for the purposes of passing budgets, bills and forming a stable government,’’ he said.

‘‘In return, we can vote against the government [on bills we don’t support], we can get policy gains and get money from the budget, as well as ministerial positions, to make change happen.

In return for supporting the National government, Flavell has been Minister of Ma¯ ori Development since 2013 and Minister of Wha¯ nau Ora and Associate Minister of Economic Development since 2014.

Thanks to the Ma¯ori Party’s influence, people had benefited over the past 9 years, Flavell said.

‘‘We’ve secured $321m from the budget [for social investment] and influenced the government to look at the cohort that are struggling, which resulted in the change in tax thresholds [National’s Family Incomes Package] and a lift in the accommodation benefit,’’ he said.

Flavell is the minister in charge of Wha¯nau Ora - an approach where health, education and social services are delivered by community-based agencies. These agencies work with partners and providers to deliver customised support to wha¯ nau.

Flavell said statistics put forward by opposition parties did not show he’d failed to deliver.

‘‘We may not have achieved all of the goals but [achieving them] been our focus and we’ve attempted to achieve as much as possible,’’ he said.

‘‘More can be done, of course, but the country, for all intents and purposes, is in a good shape.’’

KEVIN STENT/STUFF Te Ururoa Flavell, co-leader of the Ma¯ori Party, is calling on people of Ma¯ori descent in the Waiariki electorate to give him their electorate vote.