Labour Maori MPs’ talk a bit too rich

te-pati-maori

Fri Apr 03 2009 13:00:00 GMT+1300 (New Zealand Daylight Time)

Labour Maori MPs’ talk a bit too rich

Friday, 3 April 2009, 3:20 pm
Press Release: The Maori Party

MEDIA RELEASE
3 April 2009 – Co-Leaders of the Maori Party – Tariana Turia and Dr Pita Sharples

Labour Party MPs Parekura Horomia and Nanaia Mahuta have a cheek to blame the struggles of low-income Maori families on the Maori Party.

"Our party isn’t happy that whanau didn’t get more benefit from the latest round of tax cuts and we’ve told National that, but its a bit rich for the two members to blame us for the poverty issues that plague Maori people,” Mrs Turia said.

“In the nine years their Labour Party was in power the pay gap between Maori and Pakeha actually increased – and that was in a decade of unprecedented economic growth, not a recession which is currently the case,” Dr Sharples said.

"In Ikaroa-Rawhiti electorate the average Maori family had an income that was $14,000 a year lower than the average Pakeha family.”

“Just think of the things that those families had to go without by not having that additional spending power – and for nearly nine years both their MPs were ministers and should have been looking after their interests."

"Not only that, while Labour was in power, thousands of Maori decided they could no longer have a fair go in the land of their birth and headed off in droves to Australia."

ENDS

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