I’ve worked with Pita Sharples for 33 years. I’ve admired his work in Maori Education while  disagreeing with his separatist funding and control views.

I can not however understand how can sleep at night after agreeing to the massive funding cuts for wharekura outlined below.

Wharekura can sometimes cause problems in communities. There is an issue with size, quality, subject choice and viability. They can undermine otherwise viable schools. Approval should not be automatic. Pita’s approach seems to be that he wants them wherever a small group of parents do – notwithstanding their educational viability.

But worse he has sold his soul to Chopper Tolley and agreed to a funding formula which discriminates negatively on the basis of using Maori language when all the evidence is that they need more. And under Labour they got that.

The table below shows what they would have got under Labour. And if you take out the Maori Language factor funding  you can see what a school with pakeha kids or Maori kids taught in English would get.

Wharekura Funding

Assumed:

• ¾ of years 1-8 in years 1-6, and ¼ in years 7-8
• Mid-point of decile range used where not otherwise stated
• 80-100% Maori language immersion

Purely out of concern for the health of the Chairperson of the Maori Affairs Select Committee (Tau Henare), I bet him $20 I could lose 10kg faster than him.
Parekura overheard and thought he’d be in on the wager.
Mita Ririnui and Hone Harawira overheard Tau and I talking about the weigh-in, and thought that they could benefit from a bit of diet and exercise, and before you know it the whole event has grown legs with the Dom Post putting it on their front page, Te Karere, Te Kaea and Breakfast are all doing stories on it.
Close-Up has interviewed us all and will follow our progress each week for the eight weeks of the challenge.
Now I hear Simon Bridges, Paul Quinn and Shane Jones are all on board.
I can understand Simon and Paul needing to lose a few pounds, but Shane Jones? We all know he’s the epitome of physical perfection. An Adonis in his own mind. This has upped the ante – especially when he greeted me this morning with “Kia ora Twiggy.”
I thought I’d just cut down on food portions and go for a brisk walk a couple of times a week, now I’m hearing of nutritionalists and personal trainers being called into the mix. The others are obviously concerned.
We’re just waging $20 each, although one smart alec emailed a photo titled “The consequences of losing a bet at work” – some poor bugger obviously lost a bet at work, the consequence being he had to wear a Borat ‘man-kini’ for the day.This wouldn’t work for us. We have to wear a tie and jacket in the House.

This afternoon I had a go at introducing my first member’s bill.  It’s pretty straight forward. 

At the moment the Minister of Conservation can remove land from Schedule 4 (which protects 13% of the most pristine parts of the country from mining) by pretty much making the decision and then Gazetting it. My bill removes that power, and instead requires approval from the House of Representatives before any land can be removed from Schedule 4.  Basically, it makes all of us accountable for the decision to mine, or not to mine.

It has another important consequence. It takes the power out of the hands of the Minister of Conservation, and for good reason. The Minister has utterly failed to act as an advocate for the Conservation estate thus far. I don’t think the fate of the Coromandel, Great Barrier Island and Paparoa National Park should lie with her and her alone- let alone Gerry Brownlee as has been proposed.

A couple of people have asked me about the bill in comparison to Metiria Turei’s bill, which was drawn last week.  Metiria’s bill removes the ability to take land out of schedule 4 -full stop.  I hope it passes.  If however the Government votes it down,  I would like to hear them explain why then at the very least, all Member’s of Parliament should not have a right to vote on changes to schedule 4, why each of us should not be held to account on decisions that will have a significant impact on local communities, our environment, and our reputation. 

If they want to mine our parks, we should put it to the vote.