trader's blog
• 2007-Sep-22 - Scoop John Key Speech To Maori Womens Welfare League
| To those the mothers of today who have the dreams for now and the future. Greetings to you all. xA My warmest greetings to you both. Madame President my parliamentary colleagues and others. xA It is a great privilege to be here. I have been impressed by the energy and the vitality that I have seen in Maori communities. xA We are committed to ensuring our health system delivers fast reliable healthcare. xA We are committed to a growing economy with good work opportunities available to all. After all these are the things that will ensure our tamariki can see and climb ladders of opportunity. It x s for this reason that I welcome the Maori cultural renaissance we have witnessed in recent decades. xA xA In doing so you have promoted fellowship and understanding between Maori and Pakeha. Our country is the better for it. xA We have come a long way because of it. But New Zealand must not be complacent. We must not settle for where we are. I have been alarmed at the lack of settlement progress in recent years. The Government has taken just one settlement from negotiation to final completion during the past eight years. xA By comparison were started and completed under the previous National Government. xA While these claims involve complex and difficult issues their delayed resolution only adds to the sense of injustice. xA National is committed to working quickly and effectively to achieve fair and durable settlement outcomes. xA I know that Maori share that impatience and are eager to seize the economic opportunities before them. xA Long may that continue. I want to see all Maori standing strong economically independent and fulfilling the complete promise of their potential. It x s those aspects I want to turn to now. But the reality is there to be seen. I am deadly serious about addressing these problems. xA I know that the underclass knows no ethnic boundaries. But we must not use their successes as an excuse to delay action. xA And we mustn x t pretend that government strategies handouts and campaigns will be the answer. Maori whanau and Maori communities hold the keys. xA In the wake of the horrific death of Nia Glassie the league did not look the other way. xA The excuses must stop. Our task and your task is to strengthen the hands that rock the cradles of our children. xA While Government has a role to play in this it certainly doesn x t have all the answers. You have proven yourselves again and again to be effective at achieving lasting and culturally attuned outcomes. That x s a great result and it shows just how effective grassroots member driven services can be. xA They empower people to care for themselves and their own families rather than depend on the State. That aspiration lies at the heart of your organisation x s kaupapa and it is one that National shares. Why Because education is a liberator. xA Education is the biggest investment we can make in our most important asset x our people our children. xA The better we educate our young the more life choices we give them. xA As it is New Zealand is not placing a high enough priority on education. xA It is not good enough. xA We must do better and we can. xA This starts with early childhood education. xA Our National Standards policy will ensure we nip these problems in the bud. This has been a long time coming. Between now and the next election I will have plenty more policy to announce in the education area. xA I will be open to whatever works and whatever gets results. xA It x s something I x m keen to see continued. It is that aspiration that never fading ambition that I want to appeal to in every Kiwi citizen. Many strands must intertwine for us to create the fabric of a stronger nation. Respect for each other education work and strong families x all will be essential for social and cultural success. I hope we will have the opportunity to work together in the years ahead. More RSS News Alerts . We regret that we have found nothing to match his imaginings. But we did uncover a certain amount of
morphing. |
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