Te Ururoa Flavell MP for Waiariki www.waiariki.maori.nz

Tenatatoukatoa.

Last week would have been one of the busiest so far this year. The budget announcement on Thursday kicked off a few days of urgency, so it was time spent away from home, in Parliament debating over the details of the budget packages.

Aside from that though, I am lucky one of my kids had attended university in Wellington and had his graduation ceremony at the same time. I was able to sneak away from Parliament and not miss out on seeing him graduate. He's joined the profession of teaching and is here in Tauranga putting those years of study to practice.

Now, back to the budget; we were pleased as a Party to be able to secure some real gains in this budget for Maori. Who could complain about money being put directly into reducing Rheumatic Fever rates, improving the literacy and numeracy of our tamariki. Come to think of it, I don't recall Kura Kaupapa ever receiving so much, including money to ensure that they receive the same level of transport assistance as mainstream schools. It's about time there's some equality there – and this is what we have attempted to achieve.

There is definitely more work to do, but without sitting at the table, having some influence and pushing for gains where we could, there is no doubt that the budget would have been much worse for Maori. We are well aware of what the problems are and what our people want. We are committed to working with whoever we need to, to keep pushing for better outcomes and providing solutions.

On to something a little lighter – recently I received an unusual letter from a concerned constituent making me aware about a story on the SunLive website regarding the closure of the Mauao tracks. The article was about the reasons for the closure of Mauao walking tracks; it revealed that there was a historical Chinese tomb hidden deep within the maunga and that the Chinese Government was considering laying claim to all of Aotearoa. As you could imagine it caught me by surprise big time – I asked my staff to research the details about the article and they couldn't find any media articles, submissions or district plans about this particular issue. Truth be told, they could not find anything about it. It was only when they said the name of the ancient Chinese navigator (Lee Dee Kew Laos) and repeated it a few times very quickly, did they soon realise that the article was a joke.

It reminded me of how powerful media can be and how people often believe the stuff they read. So I'm glad I was able to clarify this one for the concerned constituent and hope that the Sun will consider using a disclaimer next time. (For those who are interested: It turns out that weather and safety concerns are the reason for the closure).
Read the Not the News article here; www.sunlive.co.nz/news/11092-mauao-closure-shock-truth.html

I welcome your feedback; phone 07 3503261 email [email protected] or post o PO Box 12028 Rotorua 3045.