Jacinda Ardern
Associate Minister, Arts, Culture and Heritage
Minister, Child Poverty Reduction
Minister, Ministerial Services
Minister, National Security and Intelligence
Prime Minister
Kia ora koutou katoa and good afternoon. Starting with the week ahead, tonight I will attend the Diwali celebrations here at Parliament and will be in Wellington on Tuesday for the House. On Wednesday, one year on from the 2019 Whakaari / White Island eruption, I will be in Whakātane to be with Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Awa as we remember the lives lost and acknowledge the efforts of many during the tragedy.
On Thursday, I head to Rotorua to launch Tāiki Whānau alongside Ministers Little and Verrall. This pilot is something I’m really excited to be a part of. In Budget 2019, we allocated $10 million over three years to test and evaluate enhanced models of support for parents and their whānau and mental wellbeing needs for new parents. Tāiki Whānau, provided by Manaaki Ora Tipu Ora, is the first Well Child / Tamariki Ora programme of its kind to be established, and will support between 40 to 60 young parents and their whānau over three years, from early in the pregnancy to up to two years. Those taking part will receive intensive whānau-led mental and social wellbeing support, led by an appropriate care worker, who will work in collaboration with other health and community agencies, as needed.
This programme is based loosely on what is internationally known as nurse-family partnerships. Several years ago, a nurse with Plunket in the Hawke’s Bay first piloted the idea of nurse-family partnerships in New Zealand. The focus is, of course, using a Tamariki Ora or Plunket approach, but scaled up, having a nurse more frequently in contact with a family for a longer period of time, and with the ability to look beyond health needs to needs across everything from family violence to housing, to other social and mental health needs. To see us getting on with rolling out an extended version of that model is something, as you can see, I’m very enthusiastic about.
And on Friday, I will travel to the Manawatū for the sod-turning of the Manawatū Tararua Highway. This project is a further example of the Government’s strong focus on infrastructure and accelerating the recovery from the economic impacts of COVID-19.
Tomorrow, the report from the royal commission of inquiry into the terrorist attacks on March 15 will be tabled in Parliament. When we announced the terms of reference for the inquiry, the intent was very clear: we wanted to ensure that if there were any failings by Government agencies—if there was anything that could have been done to prevent the attacks—that we identified them and that we learnt from them. This is an 800-page report. It is comprehensive but also, for many, it will be very difficult, because by its very nature it revisits the events of that day and what happened leading up to it. I just want to acknowledge that, therefore, it will be a difficult few weeks for many.
Cabinet met today, and as part of the tabling process the Government will release some very initial responses to the findings and recommendations of the royal commission’s report, but, as you can appreciate, it won’t be a report to everything in its entirety. Some of the recommendations will take a longer period of time for us to develop a response to. Of course, though, you’ll see from the way that we will be releasing and tabling the report tomorrow we are allowing plenty of time for media, with an embargoed lock-up and the availability of Ministers and some agency leads tomorrow to answer questions before that public release at 2 p.m.
But for now I’m happy to take questions.