WHANAU AURA

There has been much wailing and gnashing of teeth over the Whanau  Ora launch - the new way to get families off the poverty tread mill. 

We think we know what Whanau Ora was meant to be and what it is going to be. 

Now the above diagram is half crap and half sense. The Green segements  are the important bit. 

There is still too much of a sense of entitlement within the ranks of Maori leaders for them to make much of a difference. Self reliance and and personal responsibility are not intrinsic Maori values otherwise we would not need Whanau ora. The reliance on the collective is part of the problem. 

However we see much merit in a focus on the Whanau taking more responsibility for its own. and at the end of the day the families who are most in need  may eventually  benefit from a reconnection to their tribal roots but  a night class in computer literacy and nutrition could well provide more benefit. 

Now for a start the one point that everyone does agree on is that there are a group of families through out the country who are in a hell  that many of us know little of. Sometimes of their own making sometimes not. Its about intergenerational dis-functionality, despair, hopelessness, and a life that is  nothing more than an existence and their existence is dependent on the state. 

One of the issues has been the handout mentality that has been entrenched in our past socialist welfare system. The sense of  entitlement is deep rooted in the collective psyche of the poor and dare we say it Maori. 

For us the most exciting things about Whanau Ora  is  that  government departments would finally be called on to work together. 

Thats got to be a winner. 

There has also been some cynicism over the level of funding  -- no new money  . Fantastic! That's great.  It means all the crock of shit programmes that have not provided any social payback can be canned. The new Minister  of Whanau Ora, Tariana Turia has the  various agency chief executives reporting direct to her and she will want progress quickly. 

Thats  got to be music to the ears of all taxpayers and beneficiaries. 

The bad things is that the way it is designed could lead to the possibility of misuse funds as it relies on a measure of ' bulk funding.'

The example that was used to provide how it would work was a bit simplisitic.  

However the solutions are not going to be simple and sadly the changes will not happen overnight. We just hope that the groups who have been selected to roll out the first wave of Whanau Ora  realise that there is an awful lot riding one some pretty quick and demonstrable outcomes from this policy change.  So when the government departments don't deliver,   the - in the field providers, shoud have an open line direct to  the Minister so she will be able to tell  the Chief executives  in no uncertain terms to sort out their departmental deficiencies. 

It is a lot to expect people who don't make decisions about their existence to suddenly make the psychological shift to self determination and in the end nothing will be achieved unless the individuals and whanau take responsiblity for their lives. However we  believe that there are some very good providers out there , who with the freedom to do things their way and the ability to  make government departments deliver for their clients will see Whanau Ora become a reality.