Ministers hit back at Brash on Maori education swipe

By RUTH BERRY political reporter

A team of Government ministers gathered yesterday to put the "facts on the table" about Maori educational successes, accusing Don Brash of failing to do his homework.

They were responding to the National leader's weekend speech attacking "patronising" education policies which he said were failing Maori.

Dr Brash criticised "moderate" Maori leaders for failing to challenge policies which involved an "appalling misuse of public funding" to no avail.

"The next National Government will engage with Maori to find a new way forward," he said, in an attempt to reach out to those he was criticising at the same time.

Sitting by a pile of booklets detailing the Government's moves to lift Maori educational achievement, Maori Affairs Minister Parekura Horomia, his associate John Tamihere and Tertiary Education Minister Steve Maharey hit back yesterday.

Aside from the Government's frustration that Dr Brash continues to focus on race relations, the presence of three ministers signalled its desire to recover ground on the foreshore legislation's damage to the relationship between Labour and its Maori constituency.

Mr Horomia accused Dr Brash of falling back on trying to reignite racial tension following bad publicity over the nuclear issue. Mr Tamihere said: "After six months I would have thought we would have heard something new from Dr Brash."

Both ministers said Maori were sick of being told their achievements didn't rate, recalling Dr Brash's February suggestions that universities were "lowering their standards" for Maori students.

Dr Brash said investment in education and enterprise training were the critical planks to increasing Maori participation - yet that was exactly where the Government had targeted its efforts, Mr Horomia said.

Dr Brash claimed Maori were failing in tertiary education and were predominantly enrolled in community education courses.

Yet Education Ministry figures showed Maori enrolment in tertiary education had almost doubled from close to 33,000 when Labour came into power to 62,574 today, the ministers said. Other figures they cited included:

* A 19 per cent rise in Maori post-graduate course enrolments since 1999.

* Proportion of Maori (22.8 per cent) enrolled in tertiary education is higher than non-Maori (13.1 per cent).

* Students studying at wananga (Maori-focused tertiary institutions) have the highest rate of progression from certificate level courses to higher level courses in the tertiary sector.

* 17 per cent of Maori have tried to start a business in the past three years, compared with 13.3 per cent of non-Maori.