Schools and prisons are failing Maori, says Waipareira chief

John Tamihere. Photo / Rotorua Daily Post

Former Labour Cabinet Minister John Tamihere says state-owned schools and prisons are not working for Maori.

He told a Welfare Working Group forum in Wellington yesterday that he supported the Government decisions to privatise management of two prisons and its national standards for schools.

Te Whanau O Waipareira Trust, which he now runs, is talking with three private companies bidding to run the Auckland Central Remand Prison and Mt Eden Prison.

"We don't want to be the owners of the jail or the runners of corrective services. We want to provide primary healthcare, education, literacy and numeracy, alcohol and drug counselling," he said.

"We want to build up a relationship with people prior to their release and that will get us a better profile of what provisions are needed post-release. The public system refuses that."

He said 25 per cent of secondary school students in West Auckland were bussed out of the region by their parents to schools in Auckland City and the North Shore, such as Westlake Boys High School, Avondale College and Mt Albert Grammar.

"That tells us that they [West Auckland schools] don't work for them," he said. "That is why we support national standards."

He said Waipareira signed a deal six weeks ago to use educational assessments developed by the Australian-based private tuition group Kip McGrath.

"In our team of 220 fulltime-equivalents there are 37 fully qualified teachers," he said. "They will be a lead-out team. When we go into a family with difficulties, they will be doing an assessment on the whole family. That tool can roll out anywhere."

The deal has been funded out of the trust's commercial operations, but Mr Tamihere said it would be used if the trust wins one of the initial contracts for "Whanau Ora" funding, which will allow community agencies to work holistically with families, instead of only on narrowly-defined issues for each individual.

"Whanau Ora gives us a mandate," he said. "It's not about the money. It's a mandate for us to ask questions of other providers being funded to provide services to Maori."

Mr Tamihere spoke on a panel at the forum with Work and Income head Patricia Reade, who is about to become chief operating officer of the new Auckland Super City. She stuck to what Work and Income does to help beneficiaries into work and did not respond to his comments.