Will Whanau Ora lead to job losses?

John Armstrong comments:

The problem is that nursemaiding dysfunctional families is prohibitively expensive. How much money Turia, wearing the new title of Whanau Ora Minister, has actually extracted from the Finance Minister will not be known until closer to the Budget.

The other question is how much of that will be swallowed up in the administration of what will be a complex scheme which, in parts of the country lacking iwi-based social service organisations, could see a new tier of frontline welfare workers. That begs the question of what happens to the ones already supposedly doing the job.

English has brushed that no small matter aside, saying the fate of existing staff in social service agencies is tied up with the ongoing restructuring of the state sector.

So does that mean that the fight for Whanau Ora contracts is part of this restructuring, and those that are already doing the job will no longer do so? I’ve read the Report of the Taskforce on Whanau-centred Initiatives, 71-page vision statement, and I’ve read some of it before, in Mason Durie’s books. While the report is helpful to a Māori audience, this report was for the Government and comments like “ Whanau Ora is anything we want it to be, anything we can dream it to be, so that whanau are empowered to be the best they can be”, and “Kia whai taangata e mohio ana ki nga taha Māori me te taha Kawana”, and Whanau Ora is going to take us there and it has been since the beginning of time” are too idealistic - even trite. Where’s the analysis?

While it could be true that results of Whanau Ora may well not be worse than current outcomes, that does not necessarily mean it will be any better either. It appears we won’t know for a long time yet, way after the next election.

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Whanau Ora

So, the Whanau Ora report is out [PDF], after being in the hands of the government since February. The Government has said that many of the recommendations in the report will be disregarded - then appointed three members of the Whanau Ora Task Force that wrote the report that has these disregarded recommendations onto the governance board of the trust that is to run Whanau Ora. They`ll report to the Whanau Ora minister, Tariana Turia.

There is nothing in the report that states how much Whanau Ora will cost, other than stating that it will be funded by existing budgets of the ministries of Maori Development, Social Development and Health - whose three chief executives are also on the six member board. There is nothing in the report - or anywhere else - to indicate who will administer contracted services,how those administering the services apply to do so, what the expected outcomes will be, or what accountability mechanisms will be in place to ensure that government money is wisely and efficiently reallocated.

Bill English says that Whanau Ora is based on the idea that, with a little help, people can sort out their own lives. In reality it appears to be based on private providers in a race to get some contracts to tell others how to sort out their lives. Will the same amount of money be spread around more people?

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Whanau Ora will be for whanau or a non-Maori family

The Māori Party has been granted $1 billion for Whanau Ora, a key policy as mentioned in National’s confidence and supply agreement with the Māori Party.

The Maori Party seeks significant outcomes in whanau ora, through eliminating poverty, advocating for social justice, and advancing Maori social, cultural, economic and community development in the best interests of the nation.

John Key has decided that the best interests of the nation in implementing this policy is to include non-Māori families as well, but implemented based on the Māori way of doing things . The former has infuriated the Māori Party, who wanted a Maori only policy. This was to be the big one.

Whanau Ora is really Maori-flavoured devolution. National has screwed the scrum. If a certain non-Māori family needs Whanau Ora more than a certain Māori family does, under this policy, which will be implemented from July, National thinks they should apply and get the benefits first. The Māori Party doesn’t, and it appears they'll have to lump it in one of their flagship policies.Tariana Turia doesn't want to force the "Maori viewpoint" on other families - and in any case these other families probably don't know what Turia will be referring to when she says "Maori viewpoint".

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Whānau ora? Don't ask me

The Families Commission, in its statement of intent, notes:

The Commission has also identified in this Statement of Intent a strong commitment to whānau ora. This will include the development of a whänau strategy that can work in two ways: identifying areas of specific work to promote whānau ora; and identifying how whānau ora can be incorporated into existing outcome programmes.

So what is whānau ora? According to Chief Families Commissioner Jan Pryor, it is "whanau well-being as defined by whanau". You'd think she would know, the komihana a whanau (or as Pryor would say, the Families Commission) has a paper on the issue.

According to the whanau ora taskforce, it is more about a whānau-centred approach to whānau development, focussing on placing whānau at the centre of service delivery, bringing together funding from several Ministries - health, education, housing, social welfare, and justice.

But Pryor doesn't even know what this commitment to whanau ora actually entails. Her excuse for her ignorance with this aspect of the commission's statement of intent was that she is a middle class white woman who, apparently, is not well versed in terms like whanau ora - and has forgotten the wording of the commission's own statement of intent.

If she doesn't know what whanau ora is, how is she going to understand the framework which is entitled "a whanau -centred approach to whanau well-being". That's a little different to "whanau well-being as defined by whanau".

Pryor says she is working closely with the Minister, Tariana Turia on the policy. Not close enough, as she has not the slightest idea what the Minister’s policy actually means.

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