L

ast Saturday more than a million New Zealanders who are receiving either a main benefit or New Zealand super began receiving more money each week through the Winter Energy Payment. The Government introduced this as part of our Families Package, to help seniors and families with the cost of heating during the colder months. It’s simply about being able to run the heater when you need to.

Too many New Zealanders are hospitalised because of cold, damp homes. The Winter Energy Payment sits alongside our Warmer Kiwi Homes insulation programme, as well as new Healthy Homes Standards requiring the insulation of rental properties, all part of our plan to ensure every home is warm and dry, and to ultimately keep people well.

I’ve had many people here in Te Tai Tokerau tell me what a difference the Winter Energy Payment makes, grateful for the support with their power bills.

The Government is committed to boosting the incomes of families, so everyone can afford the basics. Cumulatively, our Families Package and main benefit changes to date mean that when the Winter Energy Payment resumed around 111,000 families with children were on average $150 a week better off.

There is more to do to lift the incomes of hard-working Kiwis, but I’m proud to be part of a Government that’s tackling long-term challenges.

Another long-term challenge I’ve set myself is the over-representation of Ma¯ ori in prisons, and we are making progress. In three years we have reduced the jail population by 19 per cent. There are more than 800 fewer Ma¯ ori in prison. The Ma¯ ori imprisonment rate has been decreasing, and Ma¯ ori reconviction and reimprisonment rates are improving. Those are real results, but to continue making progress we need to keep doing things differently.

I recently launched Ma¯ ori Pathways at Hawke’s Bay Regional Prison, a ground-breaking series of initiatives designed in partnership with Ma¯ ori to reduce reoffending and improve outcomes for wha¯ nau. The Pathways are a key part of Ho¯ kai Rangi, and involved a number of agencies and Ma¯ ori working together towards long-term change.

In Hawke’s Bay, Nga¯ ti Kahungunu will now lead and co-ordinate the delivery of several new services in the prison, including a new wha¯ nau ora navigator workforce, and a new kaupapa Ma¯ ori trauma-informed care approach. There are also new staff roles at Corrections, new highly specialised MSD case managers to help men and their wha¯ nau access social support and employment services, and existing Mauri Tu¯ Pae rehabilitation and tikanga programmes have been expanded.

The Pathways will be used to inform new ways of working nationally and in other regions.

Soon I’ll be launching the Ma¯ ori Pathways at the Northland Region Corrections Facility, and I look forward to sharing how that kaupapa will help Far North men and wha¯ nau.