Mana’s Housing Policy Good For All New Zealanders

MANA Leader and MP for Te Tai Tokerau, Hone Harawira

MANA Candidate for Ikaroa Rawhiti, Te Hamua Nikora

Friday 21st June 2013

“MANA’s Housing Policy announcement seems to have upset some people” said MANA Leader and MP for Tai Tokerau Hone Harawira “but it’s really quite mild”. 

“Basically all we want to do is restart the old Maori Affairs Housing Scheme, launched back in the depression days to help Maori deal with a housing crisis” said Harawira.

“It might be 2013 but the country is back in a depression again and Maori are again facing a housing crisis, along with tens of thousands of other New Zealanders”.

“Our announcement yesterday was specifically to deal with the devastation that I have seen with my own eyes” said MANA’s Ikaroa Rawhiti Candidate, Te Hamua Nikora “but it also called for the provision of housing for all New Zealanders in need”.

“The old Maori Affairs Housing Scheme ran successfully under both Labour and National Governments for 50 years and housed hundreds of families up and down the Coast - until Labour killed it off in 1989” said Nikora. “We want to tweak it to fit the 21st century and get it going again”.

“And the cost?” asked Harawira “A lot less than the $2 billion in tax-cuts that National gave to the rich and less than the $1.7 billion they spent bailing out South Canterbury Finance”.

“This is a very good deal all round, and that’s why I am so surprised at Labour’s negative reaction” said Harawira. “David Shearer’s announcement that Labour won’t build any houses for Maori is going to really burn his candidate’s chances in the Ikaroa Rawhiti by-election”.   

“MANA’s policy is simple, it’s direct, and it’s positive. It’s based on an initiative that ran well under both National and Labour, it will provide for the housing needs of Maori, get thousands of Maori off the benefit and into jobs, and cost less than you might think”.

“Instead of picking out the bad bits, I encourage people to focus on the positive”.

ENDS

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