Some point to the government $1.6-billion bail-out of South Canterbury Finance in 2011 to downplay the annual expenditure of $1.16-billion in funding for Maori.
South Canterbury Finance was New Zealand's largest locally owned finance company by the late 2000s, with 35,000 investors regardless of ethnicity and assets considered to be worth almost $2-billion.
In 2008, South Canterbury Finance was accepted into the New Zealand Deposit Guarantee Scheme. In August 2010, South Canterbury Finance asked its trustee to place it in receivership after a recapitalisation failed. The Government paid out to all 35,000 investors a total of $1.6-billion.
Few are aware of the extent of race-based funding in New Zealand. This information was obtained through requests under the Official Information Act for the 2012-13 financial year.
Health: A total of $95.23-million was paid to 177 Maori Health providers.
Education: A total of $41.6-million was paid to 72 registered Maori tertiary training providers, Te Wananga o Aotearoa received $170 million, Maori student achievement received $8.5-million, and Te Reo Maori received $5.7-million, Kohanga reo language nest pre-schools received $67.5 million with $2.64 million for administration.
Social Development: A total of 13 Social Development providers received a total of $5.13-million.
Housing: Five Maori housing: organisations received a total of $6.36-million from the Social Housing Fund.
Te Puni Kokiri: The budget for Te Puni Kokiri: that year was $209.5-million that included $49-million for the one-stop-welfare programme named Whanau Ora, and $75-million for promotion of the Maori language.
Vote Treaty Negotiations consumed $519.97-million.
The Waitangi Tribunal took $10.7-million out of the Courts budget.
Waikato River co-governance costs $16-million a year. Environmental accords and other co-management cost a further $6-million.
The grand total of race-based funding documented from these requests under the Official Information Act is $1.16421-billion.
However, Maori social service providers also receive funding for social service contracts. One such provincial provider recorded a revenue of $11.05-million for a year. Supposing 177 such providers had government contracts receiving a similar level of reimbursement from government departments, the total for all such contracts in a single year would be $1.7-billion.
In short, the South Canterbury Finance bailout was a one-off payment of $1.6-billion to investors of all ethnicities while funding for Maori is repeated every year and is at least $1.16-billion, and is on top of other funding distributed through Health, Housing, Social Development, and Education.