Te Pāti Māori's electioneering shenanigans at Manurewa Marae are small beer

 

Te Pāti Māori's electioneering shenanigans at Manurewa Marae are small beer compared to their pāti president's  financial shenanigans at the Waipareira Trust, which looks increasingly like he regards it as his personal and pāti ATM.

That's where the real enquiry needs to be focussed — on the slush fund known as Whanau Ora. And the deals done by several parties to create it. 

It was predictable. When there's this much money and power sloshing around unaccountably, there's always someone who will make it his job to take advantage ...

WHAT WE SAID IN 2010:

"If stimulus and bailouts are welfare for bankers-who’ve-failed, and Kiwisaver is welfare for suits-with-nothing-in-them, then surely the new politically-correct Whānau Ora scheme is just welfare for 'welfare providers,' isn’t it? Welfare that is primarily to keep the likes of John Tamihere and Rongo Wetere in the manner to which they’ve become accustomed. Welfare for a Browntable of well-heeled ambulance chasers. Welfare that will end up costing us all more in the long run than the current welfare bill."

'Welfare for Everyone' - NOT PC, April, 2010

WHAT WE SAID IN 2015:

"Whanau Ora is ... simply welfare for separatist welfare providers.
    "In short, a scam.
    "That much is fairly clear even from the Auditor General’s findings on funding, to whit: 'During the first four years, total spending on Whānau Ora was $137.6 million…. Nearly a third of the total spending was on administration…' 
    "You see? A very well-paying scam …  if you’re inside that tent clipping the ticket.
    "What Whanau Ora is primarily, is welfare for separatist welfare providers....
    "So what has the scam achieved?
    "It has achieved a great deal indeed … for all those inside the tent.
    "What it achieved for the Maori Party was to buy them the backing of welfare providers – and as you can see I mean 'buy' in the very literal sense. Sure, it’s been hard to keep the backers inside the tent as bigger game seemed to appear elsewhere, but for a while at least it bought support for the new party.
    "And what it achieved for the Key Government was to buy the backing of the Maori Party – 'buy' here being used in the very political sense of buying the Maori Party’s votes, with which it was able to stay in power.  
    "So quite a great deal indeed was achieved, if you’re one of the ones in power." 

'The Whānau Ora Scam' - NOT PC, May 2015