Whanau Ora - so modern it's a brand

Indeed Emma - working together would be too simple! John – I think you've missed my point. I'm not saying it's a "modern brand" – I'm questioning the description of it as a "brand". I'm not sure what you mean by "pre-European thought"... By the way, Minister Turia's office sent me a copy of the Taskforce Report. I'm still intrigued by the lack of a coherent vision statement. Surely this should be an overarching guide for any high-level policy?

I read the same powerpoint you wrote about - it was as you said less than enlightening and I am a supporter of the idea of wrap around services - what I presumed Whanau Ora was about. I too worry about the level of management that seems to be involved and the fact that really providers could just be told (legislated if need be) to liaise with each other.

I am intrigued by what you are refering to as a 'modern' brand, one conclusion I draw from this is that you are suggesting because it is a Maori driven initiative that it should be a purely Maori driven initiative i.e of pre european thought? But that of course would be just absurd as many of the 'people' this project would benefit would hardly call themselves Maori due to lack of knowledge and content with their culture. I would instead argue that a modern 'brand' would work for a modern kiwi.

It is a wonder most Maori are all moving to Australia to start a new life where it seems the Pakeha there are more inclined to encourage Maori to better themselves as most Pakeha in NZ are not, as i myself are one of many Maori who have businesses in Australia it is sad to see more and more often the rift between Maori and Pakeha opening more and more because of who has this and who had that, we are lucky in some sorts to have such a relationship because you only have to see what is happening around the world and realise it could all be alot worse for those with nothing to fight back with.
Strange when Maori want to make a difference we get told we are ''New Zealanders'' but when it gets a little too hot to handle we are then told ''you sort it out'' ???????

Judy is right (if condescending) there are cracks between the silos but the solution should surely be from a NZ perspective and not a maori perspective otherwise it is racist. Also the solution is in the hands of Social welfare to set up systems within their structures not create new structures with their own inherant problems.

Note: the powerpoint file that is now linked is different to the one written about.

Sorry you feel that way, Judy. I don't think I'm being racist - if anything I'm being "bureaucratist", perhaps - but nothing I have written has anything to do with race. My beef is with the entire nature of politics and bureaucracy. Politicians and governments will never solve social problems because, more often than not they create them in the first place. I agree with you that siloed funding is ineffective - the same issues are prominent in the disability sector – but I don't trust any Government to have the technical skill to engineer a solution water tight enough to make any real difference. That said I am very open to be proven wrong - only time will tell. Bear in mind also that I write these blogs to get a bit of dialogue going - thank you for participating - and that requires me to take more of an opinionated stance in text than I do in my head and heart :-)

It all sounds suitably vague and full of warm racial fuzzies that will cause most PC inclined Pakeha to run about distributing rose petals and feeling awfully good about it all and pleased with themselves.

It is clearly going to provide a very large trough and without sound governance, with accounting and auditing processes in place, we can on past experience unfortunately, expect to see cases where the cash flow has been directed into areas it was never intended.

Oh dear Phillip. You're just so terribly clever. Even I understand Wnahau Ora and I'm an old lady in my seventies.
As a former journo, I think that before you comment on new social policy, you should at least understand how existing social policy is implemented. If you knew anything about social work, or had explored the NZ Government's existing social policies, you would know, as I do, that it exists as a series of vertically structured water tight compartments within which all disadvantaged (not only Maori)receive what help we are prepared to give them.To explain this in detail, I'd exceed my word allocation but suffice to say that (in my opinion) a great many of our present social problems are caused by people falling into the cracks between these water tight compartments. Whanau Ora is a Maori initiative intended to change social welfare and health services from being administered from within water tight compartments to being administered from a continuum.
Whether it will work remains to be seen but jeering at it is just cheap racism. Obviously your problem is one of perspective.If there are things you can't understand about Whanau Ora please feel free to contact me. I''d be happy to instruct you.

I think this project is well intentioned but will benefit a minority and in the end the funds will bleed away (probably to the administration or administrators) Ultimately it does not benefit the majority of NZ peoples and will thus loose populist support. Well intentioned political plan.