Soft Racism From the Top

 Whanau Ora's Legacy Is Taking Shape

An opinion piece critical of a flagship Maori Party policy, Whanau Ora has appeared in Stuff.  More specifically, Andrea Vance has taken the responsible minister, Tariana Turia to task over her handling of the policy. 

A core concept of Whanau Ora is commendable.  It bulk-grants tax payer money to Maori social groups and organizations and devolves to them the responsibility to spend it appropriately, whilst holding them responsible for outcomes and performance.  Decentralization, making decisions closer to the coal face, is much more preferable to centrally controlled decisions made by (inevitably) incompetent bureaucrats more interested in ticking boxes and ensuring forms are filled out correctly than in actual outcomes.  In almost all instances decentralisation and devolvement of authority and responsibility is preferable.  But to be successful it is often more costly requiring a highly disciplined process of checks and balances.  The quid pro quo is that usually decision making in a properly managed decentralised model is of a much higher quality and order. 

But. . . .
In order to work properly, one requirement  is clear guidelines within which local parties can make decisions.  Boundaries have to be transparent.  Another is a very strict and ruthless auditing regime.  Yet another is severe consequences for breaches and failures and incompetence at the local level.  Gaming and freeloading of the system must be as intolerable for the guilty as for any line staff member in a tight, well-managed business. 

Complaints about Whanau Ora are beginning to burgeon.

In the past few months a series of mini-scandals and criticisms have been levelled at the social welfare fund, largely thanks to digging by Winston Peters.  Most damning has been the conviction of Mongrel Mob member Korrey Teeati Cook for supplying drugs he bought with a $20,000 Whanau Ora grant. At first, Turia insisted there was no proof - until Cook was jailed this month, which she dismissed as a one-off.  Peters revealed last week that an immigrant with a history of family violence, child neglect and drug abuse got help from the fund for his residency application. He has also uncovered a $60,000 grant to a rugby club to research "whanau connectedness", and highlighted a $3000 grant to a hairdresser to hold two family hui.

It is inevitable that sin-riddled human beings will attempt to game any system.  Audit, discipline, controls and sanctions are, therefore, essential.  The no-mistakes standard needs to be led from the top.  If Tariana Turia does not speak up and require and insist upon high standards the scandals will multiply exponentially.  But it is reported that Turia has not fronted.  In fact, she appears to be conspicuous by her absence.

Around $5.5 million was paid out last year - $164m has been allocated over four years. The grandiloquent NZ First leader wickedly calls Whanau Ora a "bro-ocracy", a "touchy-feely slush fund" and "a circus with no accountability". Yet, when called on to defend her policy baby, Turia rarely fronts up.

When Cook - who was already on bail for violence offences - was jailed for four years, she failed to turn up to a Taranaki event where reporters were waiting for her to explain the misuse of funds. A quick search reveals this is not unusual - she didn't show up to deliver at least 18 speeches this year, relying on someone else to read them out. One ministerial aide this past week told me this behaviour was "extraordinary".

We are not aware of all the circumstances that have had Turia fronting by proxy.  But what is clear is that she is not leading the ethics and accountability charge in her department and ministerial responsibilities.  Because she is not, because she is not insisting upon honesty, integrity, strict compliance with guidelines, and a no-mistakes standard, with transparent consequences for breaches, Whanau Ora has been doomed to repeated malodorous scandals such as those now bubbling to the surface more pungently than a Rotorua mudpool.

Why might Turia be failing in this rather basic requirement of good governance?  Vance implies that soft-racism is at work:

The Maori Party co-leader is disdainful of non-Maori media. Instead of countering criticism, she attacked reporters for not covering Whanau Ora's "good news" stories.  (Emphasis, ours). 

Unfortunately this would be consistent with a mentality Turia has demonstrated before.   She has a clearly expressed conviction that Maori have been ruthlessly exploited.  She has used the term "holocaust" to describe the "suffering" they allegedly endured.  Presumably all criticism of Maori is a continuation of this "holocaust".  She appears to believe that Maori should be judged by a different standard.  Expectations should not be high.  Applied standards of accountability would only serve to continue the racial inferiority complex caused by centuries of racist oppression in Turia's version of low-expectation, soft-racism. 

We suspect that to Turia, positive discrimination is a good thing as long as it favours Maori.  One manifestation is cutting some slack for Whanau Ora beneficiaries and being publicly tolerant of fraud and graft. 

At this point all Maori with even a modicum of integrity and self-respect will be hanging their heads in shame.  At this point, Turia has become their betrayer.