Whanau Ora is priority

Te Ururoa Flavell Maori Development Minister, Associate Economic Development Minister, Minister for Whanau Ora.

“If you can't do it yourself, then why should you tell anybody else to do it?”

Arriving at the minister's lakeside home at 3pm on a Sunday afternoon for this interview, he'd just finish training. At almost 60 years of age keeping fit and healthy is an integral part of his life.

The idea is to "act as a role model" he says. "We've got this kaupapa Whanau Ora - well if you can't do it yourself, then why should you tell anybody else to do it?"

Poverty, employment and the Maori language strategy are all important issues, but it seems the number one priority for newly elected Maori Party co-leader Te Ururoa Flavell is none other than Whanau Ora,

"Embedding Whanau Ora as a way towards economic sustainability for whanau and indeed for the Maori nation".

A month in to the new job, Flavell's diary is filled with hui to get his head around the enormous task of being the Minister for Whanau Ora. He admits it's going to take some time "to get up to speed."

"I've committed, before the end of the year, to visiting as much as possible, all of the commissioning agencies and get down and see where it is on the ground".

Flavell is keen to investigate "from top to bottom" and dig deep into the delivery mechanisms, to find out how Whanau Ora is being run.

The original Whanau Ora minister, Tariana Turia, has recently criticised Te Puni Kokiri for not rolling out the social policy properly, claiming the agency was under spending.

Despite Te Puni Kokiri stating it has spent 99 per cent of the $150 million funding it received from 2009 to June 2014, Flavell is determined to go through and track it "all the way through to see where the holes are".

"To make sure it's delivering on the dream that we had, that is to have the services available as close as possible to whanau that need it."

While Flavell says it's too premature to say changes will be made to Whanau Ora, the feedback he's received so far is that the kaupapa is not quite achieving what was intended.

"I'm pretty determined that having done all the work to get Whanau Ora to where it is now, that if there are gaps then we have to plug them, because so much is at stake with Whanau Ora".

Flavell did find solace in the work being done in the Te Arawa area. "The Te Arawa collective for example went over the 1000 people mark of cases that have been addressed by the Whanau Ora collective", but on a whole "we have got to do better".

The funding now sits with three major commissioning agencies under the umbrella of Te Pou Matakana, chaired by Merepeka Raukawa-Tait.

In his capacity as Maori Development minister, and Associate Economic Development minister, Te Ururoa Flavell also links Whanau Ora to strategies aimed at reducing poverty and increasing employment, both of which impact greatly on Maori.

"We've got to think past just the individual person, and think about the whanau, and working with whanau to provide everyone with opportunities."

"Allowing our people to be self-sustaining which is Whanau Ora, and looking at opportunities for them to look into business".

Something the fresh minister is confident he has the support of National and the prime minister on is allowing our people to be self-sustaining which is Whanau Ora, and looking at opportunities for them to look into business.

We recognise that Whanau Ora is one way to move, as a kaupapa, to deliver, and address those issues.

With the weight of Maoridom on his shoulders, the ultimate test for Te Ururoa is in delivering results across the entire spectrum of wellbeing by enhancing opportunities.

"I certainly want to be a minister that gets some results."

This story first appeared in Maangai Nui