Pita Sharples

Wellington, June 16 NZPA - Maori Development Ministry Te Puni Kokiri (TPK) is well capable of administering Whanau Ora without affecting its core duties and will mainly play a hands-off support role, Maori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples has told a select committee.

Fronting the Maori Affairs select committee in Parliament today, Dr Sharples said TPK had close links to iwi throughout regional New Zealand and would play a vital role in overseeing Whanau Ora without getting directly involved.

Under Whanau Ora, money currently spent by health, education, justice and social development agencies will be delivered to individual agencies to work, through "negotiators", with families facing problems.

Dr Sharples said TPK would help facilitate the bids from potential providers and support the selection of the negotiators who will work with families.

"We've had meetings in the regions about how they might do this and I'm satisfied that this will not compromise any of their other duties."

Dr Sharples said the Government would have preferred the likes of the Ministry of Social Development to play the lead administrative role with the Whanau Ora programme, which was announced in April, but he and Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia were adamant TPK needed to be involved.

"I don't know of any other group that could administer it," he told reporters after the meeting. "Because, as I've found with treaty settlements, TPK know who's who in every district and the right source to do this and that, and that is going to be helpful."

In the meeting, National MP Paul Quinn pressed Dr Sharples over TPK's capability to lead Whanau Ora and questioned a recent report in which 16 people were asked to judge government departments on quality of service. TPK came in the bottom third.

Te Puni Kokiri chief executive Leith Comer hit back at the report. He said he had looked at the 16 people spoken to and considered only three had had anything to do with TPK in the last few years. Two of them were contacted by himself and another representative and said they rated TPK highly. "At that stage I decided that I wouldn't take any more notice of that particular review."

Lead assessors were due to soon provide Dr Sharples with a critical performance review of TPK and that would show the agency in a good light, Mr Comer said.