Dr Reti has said he is open to meeting with National Secretary Kerry Davies, Te Kaihautū Māori Janice Panoho and Health Organiser Sue McCullough to discuss issues relating to improving Māori health outcomes.
We will take up this offer but will continue to advocate for him to meet directly with PSA health workers.
The invitation to the meeting with workers was extended by Janice Panoho after the government rushed legislation abolishing Te Aka Whai Ora, the Māori Health Authority, through the House under urgency in less than 24 hours at the end of February.
As a union representing 30,000 workers in the health sector and 10,000 members who identify as Māori, the PSA is acutely interested in the government’s plan to improve the health of Māori.
Unnecessary haste
The unprecedented use of urgency to silence a judicial process forestalled a Waitangi Tribunal hearing that would have given Māori advocates Lady Tureiti Moxon and Janice Kuka an opportunity to voice their concerns on behalf of Iwi Māori. It also meant there were no opportunity for public consultation through the select committee process.
“Rushing the legislation through the House meant Māori health workers, who are experts on how to address health inequity, were shut out of this discussion. Māori and our members want to understand the rationale behind the changes and how it will improve the inequities that exist for Māori and their communities, Janice Panoho says.
Why Te Aka Whai Ora was needed
Te Aka Whai Ora was set up to allow Māori to deliver health services to Māori, to give better outcomes for Māori and to meet a Te Tiriti obligation to ensure Māori are equal partners with the Crown. Its work included addressing a raft of inequities that have devastating consequences on Māori. Māori currently have less access to healthcare:
• Māori life expectancy is on average more than seven years lower than non-Māori life expectancy.
• Māori are 20% more likely to develop cancer than non-Māori and nearly twice as likely to die from cancer.
• Māori face more barriers accessing a GP and other health services than non-Māori.
Lady Tureiti said plans for the Māori Health Authority have been underway since 2005.
“We finally get there and just in one fell swoop – this government wants to get rid of it,” she says. “As much as people say that we are all one people and we all deserve the same – Māori do not get the same,” she says.
“We want good health. We want to contribute well to our country and our communities but in order to do that, we want to do that for ourselves. We don’t want the Government telling us what’s right for us.”
Our concerns over the abolition of Te Aka Whai Ora
The workers in Te Aka Whai Ora, and the work they were responsible for, have been transferred back into Te Whatu Ora, Health New Zealand. Te Aka Whai Ora’s strength and contribution to Māori health came from its independence and dedicated focus that brought together Māori health expertise. Both of those strengths have been lost by shifting responsibility Māori health back into Te Whatu Ora.
PSA Kaihautū Māori Janice Panoho.
Dr Reti’s stated aim is to move resources closer to hapu and iwi. However, analysis of the legislation by the PSA policy team is that the legislation does the opposite. It centralises decision making for Māori health and removes decision making from iwi and hapu.
“This Government promised evidence-based decisions, but like its decision to row back smoking reforms, which also impact Māori, it would rather embrace ideology than good public health policy,” Janice says.
Wider implications
As well as the negative impacts on addressing Māori health, the abolition of Te Aka Whai Ora is an insult to te Tiriti o Waitangi that does not bode well for Crown-Māori relations, Janice says.
“The debate about Te Aka Whai Ora goes to the heart of the wider debate about the relationship between Māori and the Crown and yet particularly with the loss of the Waitangi Tribunal hearing, Māori, who will be the most impacted, have not even been afforded a conversation,” Janice says.
