Government Notice of Motion No 8

te-pati-maori

Wed May 11 2011 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)

Government Notice of Motion No 8

Wednesday, 11 May 2011, 9:04 am
Speech: The Maori Party

Hon SIMON POWER to move, That a respectful Address be presented to His Excellency the Governor-General commending to His Excellency the alterations to the appropriations for the 2010/11 financial year in respect of Vote Audit, Vote Ombudsmen, and Vote Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, and the appropriations and information for the 2011/12 financial year in respect of Vote Audit, Vote Ombudsmen, and Vote Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment.

Rahui Katene, MP for Te Tai Tonga
Tuesday 10 May 2011

In these times of fiscal constraint it is somewhat unusual to be speaking to a notice of motion in which the appropriations for each of the three votes - Vote Audit, Vote Ombudsmen, Vote Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment are to be increased in accordance with the determination of the Remuneration Authority.

These are relatively minor increases in expenditure in the grander scheme of Government spending - but there are some important items in the list which the Maori Party wants to mention.

Firstly, we welcome the increase of $400,000 to Vote Audit to fund the Pacific Association of Supreme Audit Institutions.

We would see the support being provided to the Pacific forum to develop the capability and capacity of Auditors-General and their offices in the Pacific as absolutely inkeeping with the concept of whanaungatanga with our relatives across Te Moana-nui-a Kiwa. It is, therefore, a pleasing gesture on behalf of the Government.

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We note too the need for an additional $160,000 in 2010/11 to Vote Ombudsmen for the re-establishment of the Christchurch office that was damaged during the quake. The continuing trickle-down effect of the quake is being reflected in every vote, in every appropriation of Government and of course in every home throughout Canterbury.

And for those of us who live in the Christchurch electorates, I can only say when we are woken - as we were at 3am today - with a violent 5.3 magnitude earthquake - we wonder when the rumblings of Ruamoko are going to quieten down and allow us to try to live in a way which resembles normality. The quake this morning was also the 25th earthquake Canterbury has had measuring five or more on the Richter scale since the 7.1 magnitude earthquake on September 4.

Put that into the total picture of some 5490 aftershocks in less than nine months, and is it any wonder that a survey released today, from the Southern Cross Healthcare Group, revealed that 46 percent of Christchurch respondents reported high levels of stress.

And when one is stressed, it is important to have a forum to address concerns, and to seek the benefit of advice.

It is this next area of funding - $50,000 this year and $370,000 over the next two years - which speaks volumes about the role of the Ombudsmen.

As electorate MPs, we have many cases of constituents who think they have been treated unfairly by a central or local government agency, and turn to an Ombudsman to assist. The extra funding to Vote Ombudsmen is required to clear a continued backlog of cases.

I understand there has been some suggestion of a review of the functions and legislation regarding the Ombudsmen because the workload is never-ending and I would be interested in the views of the Minister about this particular issue, as it certainly reflects the concerns that we get across our table.

Another injection of funding into Vote Ombudsmen that warrants special focus is that related to the United Nations Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities. This is a new putea - an investment of $230,000 in the ongoing programme which my colleague Tariana Turia introduced last year, in her capacity as the Minister of Disability issues.

Article 33 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which New Zealand ratified in September 2008, requires the designation of at least one mechanism to monitor the rights of disabled persons.
In Budget 2010, Minister Turia secured $2.34 million for independent promotion, protection and monitoring of the UN Convention.
The measures included the establishment of a
* Disability Rights Commissioner within the Human Rights Commission,
* a protection and monitoring role for the Office of the Ombudsmen and
* resourcing a formalised role for disabled persons' organisations.

This Vote addresses the enhanced capacity of the Office of the Ombudsmen to monitor disability issues. I want to really congratulate Tariana on the efforts that have been made in implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities - efforts which have been reflected well in New Zealand's very first report to the United Nations on this issue.
The work she has done is a major step in the measurement of progress in achieving New Zealand's vision of full participation and improved wellbeing for disabled persons and their families

Finally, I want to just signal the Maori Party's intention to appoint, as an Officer of Parliament, a Parliamentary Commissioner for the Treaty to proactively promote the Treaty's commitment to partnership.
We have been researching a number of avenues by which to make this possible - either by a private members bill which we have drafted to this effect; or indeed as a result of the process around the Constitutional Review.
This notice of motion is ostensibly around ensuring that Parliament is held to account and about the strength of democracy generally.
To this end, we believe the Treaty Commissioner proposal is one which we think aligns well within the context of this Notice of Motion.

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