Embargoed until 6.30pm -Thursday 3 August 2000 Media Statement

Minister announces funding for Kiwi Can

Kiwi Can – a programme aimed at boosting children's self esteem and encouraging them to achieve is to receive a boost from the Government.

Education Minister Trevor Mallard told a Kiwi Can fundraising dinner that the programme would receive specific targeting from the Innovations Pool.

The Tu Tangata programme and the Cool Schools programme would also receive specific funding.

"The Innovations Pool is one way in which the Government assists schools, and
organisations working with schools, to develop programmes that meet the
needs of at-risk students.

"This year we (the Government) increased the funding of the Innovations Pool by $4 million over the next four years. Of that increase, about $900,000 is to be specifically earmarked for Tu Tangata, Cool Schools, and Kiwi Can over the next 12 months."

Trevor Mallard said New Zealanders were great achievers.

"However, not all New Zealanders have the opportunities necessary to achieve at the highest levels. The reasons for this are not limited to natural deficiencies in sporting or academic ability or in the lack of business nous to succeed - rather, these New Zealanders have not had the necessary educational foundations in life from which to go forward and succeed.

"Achievers need a stable foundation in childhood and in their teenage years from which to build their success. They need self-esteem, to perceive that they are making progress at school, opportunities to participate in sports and recreation activities, a supportive community, and most of all a stable and loving family.

"There are, sadly, large numbers of our young people who do not have the necessary foundations from which they can reach up to achieve at the highest level. Programmes like those funded from the Innovations Pool can help make up the difference," Trevor Mallard said.

ENDS

© Scoop Media

Scoop Post Election Podcast: The River Of Freedom Documentary Review

After recording a River of Freedom review the Scoop Political Podcast went into hibernation. Now with a new Government formed it’s time to dust off this forgotten silver and look at the potential impact this documentary, about the Wellington parliamentary protest of 2022 had on Election 23. Watched by potentially tens of thousands of voters in the weeks prior to the election this movie was not likely to have won votes for the then Labour government. More

Gordon Campbell: On The Skewed Media Coverage Of Gaza

Now that he’s back as Foreign Minister, maybe Winston Peters should start reading the MFAT website which is currently celebrating the 25th anniversary of how Kiwis alerted the rest of the world to the genocide in Rwanda. How times have changed ...

In 2023, the government is clutching its pearls because senior Labour MP Damien O’Connor has dared suggest that Gaza’s civilian population - already living under apartheid and subjected to sixteen years of an illegal embargo, and now being herded together and slaughtered indiscriminately amid the destruction of their homes, schools, mosques, and hospitals - are also victims of what amounts to genocide. More