Rt Hon Winston Peters
New Zealand First Leader
15 November 2012
Whanau Ora a Tragedy for Maori And Taxpayers
New Zealand First says the latest report into Whanau Ora confirms it is wasting millions of taxpayer dollars on a scheme
which provides little more than money for family reunions.
Rt Hon Winston Peters says the Findings of the Developmental Evaluation of the Whanau Ora Integration, Innovation and Engagement (WIIE) Fund report is largely indecipherable.
“In that regard it’s just like the ill-conceived Whanau Ora which is a touchy-feely scheme which ignores the real plight
of Maori.
“Struggling Maori families need help in vital areas such as health, education, housing and employment, not taxpayer
funding for rugby games and sausage sizzles.
“Whanau Ora is a tragedy for both taxpayers and Maori.”
Mr Peters says the report was written by an organisation sympathetic to the Whanau Ora ideology, but it still identified
alarming deficiencies with the scheme.
“There is no basic data available on participation levels, and glaring monitoring gaps on where millions of taxpayer
dollars are going.
“The report would have called for Whanau Ora to be scrapped had it been conducted by a truly independent organisation,”
says Mr Peters.
ENDS