The head of a Maori health provider says the Government needs to place more emphasis on building stronger families.
Tureiti Moxon, from Te Kohao Health at Kirikiriroa Marae in Hamilton, said that while initiatives in last week's budget were a good start to alleviate poverty, much more needed to be done.
She said whānau was the corner-stone of Māori society and it needed more support.
Ms Moxon said while sending people out to work was the ideal, babies needed their parents to look after them.
She said while she supported early childhood education, they were not a parent.
Ms Moxon said strong and strengthened families was one of the solutions.