Tariana Turia is pleased to announce the members of the group charged with finding a better way for the government to deal with Maori whanau.

"Whanau ora is the way forward to achieving a future where whanau determine what is in their best interests.

"How whanau ora will be applied to government policy will be the job of the taskforce and I'm extremely excited by the possibilities," Mrs Turia said.

Each of the six members on the Whanau Ora Taskforce bring special skills, knowledge and experience with them, she said.

The new taskforce will consist of:

• Professor Mason Durie (chair)


• Rob Cooper


• Suzanne Snively


• Di Grennell


• Nancy Tuaine


• Linda Grennell

The specific job of the taskforce will be to develop a policy framework for a new method of government interaction with Maori service providers to meet the social service needs of whanau.

The taskforce is expected to report to Mrs Turia early next year.

End

WHANAU ORA TASKFORCE: Member Profiles

Prof Mason Durie as Chair of the Taskforce. Prof Durie is Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Māori) at Massey University (Palmerston North) and Professor of Māori Research and Development. A psychiatrist by training, Prof Durie is a contributor to national debate on a range of social policy issues including community, family, education and health. He has previously been a Commissioner on the Royal Commission on Social Policy (1986-1988) and a Families Commissioner. His particular expertise areas can be broadly described as Mäori wellbeing, social policy and research.

Taskforce members:

Rob Cooper is the Chief Executive of the Ngati Hine Health Trust, a Māori-owned provider of social services in Northland. He is an appointed member of the Auckland DHB and Chairperson of that Board's Mäori Health committee. He has had a long career in the health sector including designing developmental funding pathways for Mäori health sector providers during his roles with the Northern RHA and the HFA. Rob is of Ngati Hine Ngapuhi descent. His particular expertise is in health issues.

Suzanne Snively is a partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers. She is an economist who specialises in government, financial services and governance advice to the private sector. Before becoming a partner, Suzanne served as a director on several Boards including the Reserve Bank of New Zealand. Her particular expertise areas are machinery of government, funding models and governance.

Di Grennell is Executive Director of the Amokura Family Violence Prevention Consortium. Di is a member of the Domestic Violence Programmes Approvals Panel and the Second Māori Taskforce on Whānau Violence. Her particular expertise area is family violence prevention, including working with youth, programme development, provider training.

Nancy Tuaine of Te Atihaunui a Paparangi (Whanganui) is the manager of the Whanganui River Mäori Trust Board and a member of Whanganui DHB. Her particular expertise is in health and social services.

Linda Grennell was until recently the National President of the Mäori Women's Welfare League. She currently works in the Nationwide Health and Disability Advocacy Service. Her particular expertise is in the welfare of women and children.

WHANAU ORA TASKFORCE: Terms of Reference

Purpose

The Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector (the Minister) has established a Taskforce on Whänau-centred Initiatives (the Taskforce). The main objective of the Taskforce will be to construct an evidence-based framework that will lead to:

• strengthened whänau capabilities


• an integrated approach to whänau wellbeing


• collaborative relationships between state agencies in relation to whänau services


• relationships between government and community agencies that are broader than contractual


• improved cost-effectiveness and value for money.

Role

The Taskforce will need to cover a number of areas of work in order to meets its objectives within tight timeframes. Its tasks are expected to include the following:

• compiling a stocktake of and analysing relevant current departmental policies and programmes, including tertiary education programmes relevant to whänau wellbeing (building on work underway in the Ministry of Social Development and Te Puni Kökiri in the areas of whänau ora indicators, whänau resilience and whänau development planning)


• reviewing existing literature relating to whänau interventions and services, and assessing relevant models of integrated care and training programmes that effectively prepare practitioners for building whänau capability


• determining which social services would be covered by the whänau-centred interventions framework and therefore which Votes and government agencies would be involved


• considering fiscal issues and constraints, both within and across Votes


• considering legislative and regulatory issues and constraints


• ascertaining the views of Mäori and other key stakeholders


• identifying appropriate governance structures and other criteria for selecting providers that would provide assurance of their capacity and capability to deliver comprehensive and integrated services to whänau


• determining how government agencies could best work together to deliver whänau-centred interventions; as well as good practice for relations between the public sector, private sector, not-for-profit sector and Mäori


• developing a robust methodology for measuring the difference made by whänau-centred interventions (potentially with a set of indicators) that includes some measures based on whänau strengths (e.g. capacity to transfer values, culture, lifestyles and to act as trustees for their members)


• developing a framework for monitoring and audit procedures, including procedures that will allow government to measure the difference being made by providers in relation to the funding level.

Membership and Chair

The Taskforce will comprise five to eight people who have expertise in whänau health, education, cultural transmission, social innovation, economics, justice, housing and service delivery.

Reporting Timeline

The Taskforce will report to the Minister on progress at two-monthly intervals, starting in July 2009 and ending in January 2010.

The Taskforce will provide the Minister with the draft consultation document in September 2009. It will release its consultation document publicly in October 2009. It will report back formally to the Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector by the end of January 2010.

Supporting structures

The Taskforce will be supported by a dedicated secretariat, to be based in the Ministry of Social Development.

End