Whanau Ora 'a waste of money'
JOHN HARTEVELT
Last updated 16:03 07/02/2012

Millions of taxpayer dollars have been handed out to organise family reunions, it has been alleged.

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said this afternoon that about $6 million of tax-payer cash had been "squandered" on a Whanau Ora programme that funded "family reunions".

"Whanau Ora is a waste of tax-payer's money. It's going to be a disaster for Maoridom. It's a pet idea of the Maori Party and John Key is selling out on separatist policies," Peters said.

He said an official Whanau Ora report showed more than 200 applications for the scheme - known as "Whanau Integration, Innovation and Engagement funding" - had been accepted.

The report says the fund is "available to support whanau, who, among other things, want to strengthen whanau ties".

It details the case of Johni Rutene who ''wants to reconnect his 180-strong family with each other and their Wairarapa turangawaewae, strengthen their bonds and improve their overall whanau ora''.

Rutene is quoted in the report saying things were "really hard for whanau, and they're going to get harder".

"We need to learn - as a family - about things we can grow that we can eat," Rutene says in the report.

One plan was to hold six hui next year, with the first commemorating the 25th anniversary of the death of his grandparents, Ihaka and Eraina Rutene. The focus of the other five hui would reflect the Rutene whanau approach to their own whanau ora.

Peters said such schemes were "an appalling waste of tax-payer's money".

In one case, a family supported by three successful businesses had been extended funding in the scheme, Peters said.

It was important to bring families together, but it was not something tax-payers should be funding, he said.

"It's a squanderous waste of tax-payers money and as a consequence, you're getting a re-alignment out of important departments and important policies to a fetish of the Maori Party, along with which John Key is happy to go."

Asked about the issue in Parliament, Prime Minister John Key said he had complete confidence in the Minister for Whanau Ora, Tariana Turia.

''I think the project is in its infancy but will look to seek to help many families for which the system is currently not working,'' Key said.

Key said he did not have any detail about the case Peters raised.

None of the three Maori Party MPs were in Parliament today.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/6378062/Whanau-Ora-a-waste-of-money

Post deleted at 09 Feb 2012 5:42pm by Joybel