This week, we have been informed that funding is being cut for Conservation of Kiwis (about $1 million per year). And a need has been established for a Commissioner for the Elderly (about $3 million). In the last year, funding has been refused to restore the East Coast Railway( which will serve locals and tourists).
Essential roading in the Wellington area has been curtailed through lack of funding.
Long-suffering Christchurch residents have lived in substandard homes and received a pittance from the EQC - Earthquake Commission. And some are still waiting to move ahead; and the pace for government payouts is sluggish in the extreme. I could go on.
In the meantime, the total of Treaty settlements are approaching $2.5 billion mark and will continue to increase. Vote Treaty Negotiations (see the document at: www.budget.govt.nz/budget/2013/by/vote/treneg.htm) contains a multi-year appropriation of $140 million for the five year period 2013-2017.
This appropriation is for the settlement of historical Treaty claims. A further provision sets aside millions of dollars for administration (not settlement), of claims under Foreshore and Seabed legislation. Something is very wrong when essential infrastructure and support systems in all fields affecting all New Zealanders and its fauna are being cut for lack of funding. Yet monies are endlessly available for Maori in all fields

R.E.Stephens,
Mount Mauganui.