Greetings again. During this recent recess, the Maori affairs select committee visited Australia on an exchange between our respective parliaments.
The purpose for our visit was to look at initiatives in the community and at government and departmental levels that impact on the well-being of indigenous children. Our group went to Sydney, Canberra and Alice Springs in six days. There, we saw projects being run in the major centres such as Redfern, we heard from ministers and MPs and spoke to members of the community. It is sad to say that what we heard from the mouths of many was in direct conflict to what we actually saw in places such as Alice Springs.
I was really taken aback at how some of the communities were living and it made me feel sorry for the people there. This said, I personally thought they seemed well ahead of us here in some respects regarding indigenous issues but, in other regards, it was obviously us who are better off.
Even though it has been said many times, it is appropriate to state that we should feel very lucky to live in Aotearoa. If there is one lesson to be learned, it is that communities must lead their own initiatives to deal with their issues.
Along these lines, let me say congratulations to the children of Te Wharekura o Ngati Rongomai who recently won the regional Primary Schools Kapa Haka competition. They, along with Kaitao Middle School, Rotorua Intermediate and a combined group from Rotoiti and Whangamarino schools will be travelling to the national competitions in 2013 - so well done to you all. Let me congratulate also those who travelled to Napier for the recent Iron Maori/IronMan race. You are just awesome - and soon that will be me too.
