The two Maori Party MPs in Parliament will make more difference than the six Labour MPs in Maori seats, Te Ururoa Flavell predicts.
A former teacher, Mr Flavell outlined the political situation to about 80 people who met in Wanganui on Wednesday night.
As the new Minister for Maori Development, Minister for Whanau Ora and Associate Minister for Economic Development, Mr Flavell has a lot to consider. He decided to go round the country asking people how he could help with Maori development - and he said people appreciated the opportunity to air their views.
In Wanganui he met with staff from the Ministry for Maori Development/Te Puni Kokiri and Maori business leaders, as well as holding the Wednesday night workshop.
Mr Flavell has Taranaki connections. He started the Maori Studies faculty at Taranaki's polytech, and its iwi radio station, Te Korimako. He's a friend of both Tariana Turia and Ken Mair, and brought Taranaki supporters to the Pakaitore/Moutoa Gardens occupation in 1995. Before he was elected to Parliament he was also the commissioner who worked with Patea's primary and secondary schools and the formation of Patea Area School.
He's in his fourth term in Parliament, this time with list MP Marama Fox as his only Maori Party ally. Mr Flavell said she was full of passion and expertise and would be hugely successful.
The National Party has 60 MPs in Parliament, and support from one United Future and one Act MP.
It needs 61 MPs to pass the annual Government Budget and asked the Maori Party to sign an agreement to give it an extra two guaranteed Budget votes. The agreement was signed, provided the Maori Party had the option of disagreeing on other issues, would warn National if it intended to vote against its bills and gained ministerial positions and the resources to implement policy.
Jobs were high priority for those at the Wednesday workshop - community/information hubs, where people could get business advice, mentoring and start-up finance was also considered important.
Mr Flavell said he got his start through a loan of a few hundred dollars from Te Puni Kokiri 10 years ago.
Other requests from those at the workshop were for Maori commissioners at resource consent hearings, and incentives for Maori to study science, medicine and teaching. One group wanted to keep up the pressure against smoking, while a group in Ruatoria wanted tax relief for the stores needed to keep rural towns alive.
Wearing his other ministerial hat, Mr Flavell said Whanau Ora was a way of doing things rather than a set programme. The passion of its "navigators" to usher people through their issues was key to its success.
He said the Prime Minister and Finance Minister both recognised its value, and had allowed the Maori Party to "experiment a little bit".
"It's still relatively small and young and can be grown," Mr Flavell said. "If anything, it needs more resource. That can be pulled together from other agencies. The Government right now is questioning the value of some of the work being done in some of those ministries."