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The debate then reeled into the pandemic-induced recession Aotearoa now finds himself in. The third unique economic disaster in a generation in just over a decade that, once again, Maori are expected to suffer the brunt.
How would the Maori be supported and how would that gap be reduced? That is where opinions diverged. Was more targeted support needed or should Maori providers be funded to do it themselves? Would infrastructure investment programs and business training really help?
“We are seeing that it is women, particularly Maori and Pacific and brown women, who are bearing most of the COVID-19 job losses,” said Marama Davidson, co-leader of the Green Party.
Then he moved on to housing, for which, once again, the Maori are getting lower and lower prices. Waiting lists for social housing have skyrocketed, as have prices and rents, pushing the poorest families, many of whom are Maori, out of the market.
“Generations of people struggling with housing is immoral and costly,” Davidson said.
Bring Back the Old Ways – Peters
Winston Peters, leader of NZ First, believed that what was needed was a return to the past.
“The Department of Maori Affairs in the 1950s and 1960s was building far more houses in proportion to the Maori than we are building now,” he said. “You don’t have to go through all these novel paths, just go back to doing what we used to do. Build houses ourselves.”
Jackson spoke of Labor work in papakainga and state houses, as he tried to leave the failed Kiwibuild program behind. Reti, however, said that Labor could not be trusted to meet the consideration of the growing number of people in need of a home.
In Ihumātao, Davidson, who has been a regular visitor to the whenua, said it should have been settled a long time ago, while Jackson said a deal was imminent, though it would not materialize on a date.
Reti and Peters completely opposed a resolution.
The Maori Party had been invited and had to attend until they had to withdraw at the last minute, while the ACT Party refused to participate.
RNZ
