MAORI TASKFORCE

At the risk of labouring the point - we want to see more details around Pita Sharples Taskforce. It is costing $4.5 million a year.

We want to know how that money is being spent. And we wonder why greater use is not being made of some of the fine young minds in Te Puni Kokiri. You see many of them have been wasting their talents monitoring the performance of other government departments for nine years or wasting away on projects they knew were of no benefit to their people. Why not devolve a heap of that responsibility and let them loose on how to reduce the impact of the recession on Maori. If they had been given this task they would have a cause that would light the fires of passion that we know still burn in many of the best there. The big wigs at the top table should just be there to grease the wheels and open the doors as required.

It is a dam shame that the Maori Party has put all its efforts into the development of an expensive tasforce rather that use the vast pool of talent that rests not a hundred yards up the road.

And we want to see regular updates on the outcomes from the Taskforces - both this and the Job Summit.

We cannot afford a single cent to be wasted. Nor see any human resource wasted. And we will be the first to say we got it wrong if the taskforce turns out to actually achieve anything of note but for us the jury is out.