Adrian Rurawhe: Whanganui iwi take huge step forward to settle land claims

Whanganui's housing crisis, years in the making.

Comment

Whanganui Iwi took a huge step forward signing an agreement in principle to settle land claims at Pūtiki Marae.

It was an honour for me to witness the signing of the agreement called "Te Tomokanga ki te Matapihi" - The Agreement in Principle signed between the Whanganui Land Settlement Negotiation Trust and the Crown is the first milestone towards settling the historic Whanganui Te Tiriti o Waitangi claims. Toituu te Kupu, Toituu te Mana, Toituu te Whenua.

The Government's KiwiBuild reset was announced by the Minister of Housing, Megan Woods, on September 4, 2019. The reset focuses on helping more New Zealanders into owning their own homes.

Labour Mp Adrian Rurawhe

The road to home ownership isn't easy – some alternate routes announced by Minister Megan Woods were:

· New ways for people to become home owners, such as shared-ownership schemes. $400 million has been set aside from the KiwiBuild appropriation for this initiative to progress.

· Boosting supply by building more homes where evidence shows they are needed

· Letting friends and family join their $10,000 deposit assistance together

· Reducing to 5 per cent the deposit required for a government-backed mortgage

· Reducing the amount developers receive for triggering the government underwrite rather than selling to KiwiBuild buyers

We acknowledge that New Zealand's housing crisis has been decades in the making, and is one of the biggest long term challenges our country faces. We won't be able to solve it overnight, but we're making progress.

A new central online hub for te reo Māori resources will make teaching and learning in te reo Māori, fun, easy and relevant for teachers, learners and whānau, Associate Education Minister Kelvin Davis announced at an event in Wellington yesterday.

Kauwhata Reo was developed to meet the growing demand for te reo Māori resources, while making them available and accessible on one central platform. Over the past three years, the number of students attending Māori medium schooling has increased by approximately 1000 a year. The demand for te reo Māori in English medium schooling, over the same time period, has also increased by approximately 5000 students annually to now over 165,000.

And with Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori celebrations under way, it is definitely a time for us to be more involved with the growing population of Māori speakers.

Kia Kaha Te Reo Māori!

* Adrian Rurawhe is the member of Parliament for Te Tai Hauāuru