Pae Ora (Disestablishment of Māori Health Authority) Amendment Bill

I present a legislative statement on the Pae Ora (Disestablishment of Māori Health Authority) Amendment Bill.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O’Connor): That legislative statement is published under the authority of the House and can be found on the Parliament website.

Hon Dr SHANE RETI: I move, That the Pae Ora (Disestablishment of Māori Health Authority) Amendment Bill be now read a first time.

This is a narrow bill focused on the changes needed to disestablish the Māori Health Authority. Disestablishment was agreed to by all three governing parties in their coalition agreements and mandated by the results of the 2023 general election, where it was canvassed at length on the campaign trail. Substantively, this bill meets our 100-day commitment and delivers on our intent.

I want to acknowledge those who embarked on the Māori Health Authority dream and say to you that this bill is in no way a reflection of you or your good work. It is a reflection of an approach that failed to put health needs for all at its forefront, and a reflection of an implementation plan that faced significant challenges from the beginning. I acknowledge that some people have a different view, and I respect that. However, I want to reassure them that this Government will remain committed to improving Māori health outcomes.

While the particular version of the dream that the Māori Health Authority laid out is coming to an end today, I want to paint a different dream, one that will be outcomes-driven, providing greater devolved decision-making that will deliver care as close to the home and the hapū as possible. There is organisational expertise in the Māori Health Authority, and I want to retain that. I say to Māori Health Authority staff to please join me, guide me, and help us together to row a different waka towards better health outcomes. This bill enables that.

Structurally, the intent of this bill is that the Māori Health Authority staff and functions will transfer mostly to Health New Zealand, with a few to the Ministry of Health. Retaining the expertise needed to drive better health outcomes for Māori is important. We will do this transfer with dignity and respect for fellow health professionals. However, this is not simply a rehoming of the Māori Health Authority within Health New Zealand and the Ministry of Health. There will be less funded positions transferred across from unfilled positions especially. These are being covered to date by expensive consultants. Across health, we are reprioritising funds from the bureaucracy and into the front line.

I want to speak to iwi-Māori partnership boards and the Hauora Māori Advisory Committee. iwi-Māori partnership boards and the Hauora Māori Advisory Committee will remain in place. Their voices may evolve as both will have a continuing role in the future of Māori health, and they will be very important as we press into communities to deliver care, to monitor care, as close to the home and the hapū as possible. Localities will be paused under this bill while their place in the reforms is reconsidered.

We have inherited a health system facing a significant number of challenges following major reform. The system continues to perform poorly across many metrics. Access to healthcare varies unacceptably. There are increasingly long wait times for treatment and substantial workforce shortages. Much of this is as a result of poor leadership and decision-making by the previous Government. Decision making has mostly been centralised in Wellington, with family and whānau not having as much input into services delivered as is desirable. This needs to change.

I want to paint a vision for Māori and all New Zealanders. My vision is that all New Zealanders will have timely access to quality healthcare. That is the mission statement. To achieve this, I will be setting clear health targets. These will bring attention, resources, and the accountability that’s needed to deliver quality care in a timely manner. The Hauora Māori Advisory Committee will help drive our health targets and will be informed by the work already done in Pae Tū and the Whakamaua action plan. iwi-Māori partnership boards will be encouraged to have more of a say in their local communities in a manner not permissioned in Pae Ora. This bill, then, is necessary not just to support an election mandate but to undo an ideology that was struggling to produce tangible results.

Many will say that the Māori Health Authority was still in its infancy. I would refute that statement. After 18 months in transition, under the guidance of a transition unit, before enablement in July 2022, and then given a further 18 months after that, this infant needed to be up on its feet and walking; despite the best efforts of staff, it was not. It is not clear to me that the Māori Health Authority was ever actually supported properly by the previous Government, who, in my view, were distracted by wider structural reforms to other parts of the health system. I believe the transition unit and previous Government has much to answer for in this failed implementation.

Often in politics, there is near universal agreement on the destination, what needs to get better; it is often how we get there that varies. This bill signals the beginning of a different journey. We acknowledge inequities. We acknowledge long waiting lists. At a macro level, this bill commences a journey that is different in three key ways from the previous Government’s approach: (1) we believe in decentralisation and not a centralised, “Wellington knows best” approach to decision making and resourcing; (2) targets will be brought back and be at the forefront of our health policy, unlike the previous Government, which said targets would not be at the forefront of their health policies, it will be at the forefront of our health policies; (3) health workforce shortages are the biggest hurdle facing our health system, despite what the previous Government stated and put on record.

To conclude, what we are putting on the table today is a start to enabling the delivery of care as close to the home and the hapū as possible. I look forward to expanding further in other stages of this bill, but at this point I commend it to the House.

The question is that the motion be agreed to.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I stand on behalf of the Labour Party to oppose the Pae Ora (Disestablishment of Māori Health Authority) Amendment Bill.

Can I first acknowledge the many hard-working New Zealanders—Māori and Pākehā—who work in the health system at large, but in particular at Te Aka Whai Ora. Many make the assumption that it’s just Māori workers who work at Māori health providers, and indeed Te Aka Whai Ora. That’s simply not the case. There are many people right across this country who are passionate about Māori health outcomes.

What we’ve just heard from the Minister in describing this bill can only be described as the absolute opposite of that. The Minister, in his opening remarks, has said that this delivers on the intent of the three-headed taniwha otherwise known as the coalition Government. It sure does, if that intent is indeed a regressive Māori policy agenda—and that’s what’s happening here today. I was fortunate to be the Minister responsible for the building of Te Aka Whai Ora, with strong support from our then Minister of Health, the Hon Andrew Little, and subsequent Ministers of Health, who continued to reshape a health system that needed to be reshaped.

I want to be very clear—and there are members on that side of the House who are new to the House and I want to say to them—that inequities in Māori health have been in Māori communities for decades. Now, I want to remind the members on that side of the House that they were cruelly exposed during COVID-19. In fact, one of my jobs as a Minister—I was one of the COVID Ministers—was to travel to each and every one of the districts of the members in this House to literally wring the district health board by the neck and say, “You must provide better outcomes for Māori, because right now you’re failing—right now you are failing.” That is why the work to reshape the health sector was particularly undertaken, because COVID sorely—sorely—exposed the holes in the health sector to show that there are further inequities that are suffered by Māori, in particular in times of crisis.

Māori right up and down this country stood up to deliver during COVID-19 and, in fact, Te Whānau o Waipareira in West Auckland delivered over 70,000 vaccinations in Tāmaki-makau-rau alone. And guess what! Only 14 percent of those were to Māori. The rest of them were to everybody. This is the lesson I want that side of the House to remember: I want that side of the House to remember Te Aka Whai Ora was here not just for Māori but for the betterment of this entire nation.

What we are going to delve into as this bill progresses is clear evidence from many members on this side of the House who witnessed firsthand the decentralisation approach that was taken when we built Te Aka Whai Ora. I challenge the Minister and members on that side of the House who talk about a Wellington bureaucracy: tell me where their office is. Did any of them come to the opening of Te Aka Whai Ora? I can tell you I did. It was opened in Tāmaki-makau-rau, Auckland, where the largest Māori population is in this country. It wasn’t run out of Wellington; in fact, it was put back into the hands of our people. We established the iwi-Māori partnership boards in order to make sure that we can fund and commission those outcomes directly in community.

Now, the Minister has spoken about keeping part of that function. We will be challenging the Minister as we interrogate this bill—about what that looks like. What does that actually mean for the iwi-Māori partnership boards? How do those iwi-Māori partnership boards continue to be supported by Health New Zealand as they look to make sure health outcomes for Māori improve right across this country? I am passionate about Māori health. My uncle Rob Cooper and my father, Erima Henare, were instrumental in the early Māori health days, looking towards how we fund the inequities properly in order to turn around Māori health outcomes for this country.

In my final 45 seconds, as we interrogate this bill, I want to say to all the whānau out there and to all of the kaimahi who have worked hard for Māori outcomes: tai timu, tai pari. The tide has turned for now, but I say to them: we will tie our waka up on to the shore because, inevitably, the tide will turn again and our waka will be set out to sea to go towards the aspirations that our people have dreamt of for years. I encourage that side of the House to read Sir Mason Durie, Order of New Zealand, one of the greatest living New Zealanders currently, in his approach to Māori health, and then come back and argue the merits of Te Aka Whai Ora. We oppose this bill vehemently.

I stand in this House, wearing the kākahu taratara of te Rōpū Kākāriki as we mourn the loss of our dear friend and colleague Fa’anānā Efeso Collins. I pay tribute to him today, and to my matua Mikaere Povey, tamaiti of Dame Naida Glavish, who also fell on that same day. They were far too young and taken too soon.

Nō reira moe mai rā. Hoki mai anō ki a tātou ngā waihotanga iho a rātou mā, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, kia ora tātou katoa.

[So rest in peace. I return now to us who have been left behind by them, greetings, greetings and thanks to us all.]

I stand on behalf of te Rōpū Kākāriki to speak on the Pae Ora (Disestablishment of Māori Health Authority) Amendment Bill. Today is day one of the recolonisation of hauora Māori in Aotearoa New Zealand. Why? Because this Government is scrapping Te Aka Whai Ora, the Māori Health Authority. As Janice Kuka, the lead claimant in the current Waitangi Tribunal urgency in the disestablishment for Te Aka Whai Ora, shared, this is the closest model of tino rangatiratanga in hauora Māori in history.

Today, we stand outraged that this Government would seek to scrap an organisation which was established through the important work of the 2019 Wai 2575 Health Service and Outcomes Kaupapa Inquiry and the full Health and Disability System Review that took place in 2019 and 2020, which included the DHBs, health providers, community, and stakeholders. This review reinforced the Waitangi Tribunal findings and set the scene for the major changes required. The review confirmed that Aotearoa has unacceptable Māori health inequities. We have institutional racism. The general health system has not improved Māori health outcomes, and approaches to design, purchasing, and contracting of health services have worsened these inequalities. We now have a Government who wants to send us back to the future, moving a focused independent hauora Māori voice back into the mainstream machine known as Te Whatu Ora.

E te Minita Hauora, kei hea te tino rangatiratanga o tēnā?

[To the Minister of Health, where is the sovereignty in that?]

We’ve heard the Minister share in the media that the disestablishment of Te Aka Whai Ora will be done gently, with great care and great respect, and that the Government wants to propose an alternative that is more effective and that will deliver outcomes that Māori need. Where are the gentle hands of this Government? What engagement has this Government undertaken with te Iwi Māori and hauora Māori on the proposal to scrap Te Aka Whai Ora? Did Māori tell you that we need this? The Government is proposing that this legislation will come through the House under urgency—and we’re here right now—but where is the justice and due process for our people to have input? Where are the gentle hands in allowing the urgent claim before the Waitangi Tribunal, scheduled for this Thursday and Friday, to be heard—now undermined by this Government?

Nā wai i teka, this Government supports te tino rangatiratanga o te iwi Māori ki roto i ngā take hauora? E kī, e kī.

[Who lied that this Government supports the sovereignty of the Māori people in health issues? Well, really.]

There is no respect of this Government who actively silences the thousands of voices that contributed the establishment of Te Aka Whai Ora, further oppressing te Iwi Māori when it comes to our hauora solutions. We have heard from the Minister of Health that Te Aka Whai Ora is a bureaucracy managed out of Wellington. I argue that Te Aka Whai Ora is a really small workforce—not even 300 kaimahi. And it’s not centrally driven as a bureaucracy but rather a group of committed health professionals connected to kāinga, based largely in the regions and in hospitals, who are focused on improving Māori health outcomes. The Pae Ora legislation provides the road map that was heralded as a game-changer in fixing a public health system that for far too long had failed Māori and many others in our community—we had been left out.

There is a strong feeling in our kāinga and within iwi that we’ve been ripped off by this Government. Disestablishing Te Aka Whai Ora now—we’ve never got a chance to see the waka grow and reach its full potential. Te Iwi Māori are being ripped off. This Government undermines the Waitangi Tribunal. Knowing full well that the urgency is this week, I ask again: where is the justice?

The Prime Minister said at Waitangi, “I want Te Aō Māori to thrive. When Māori [thrive], we all know [that] New Zealand [will do well as well].” Well, te Iwi Māori, did we consent to scrapping Te Aka Whai Ora? No, we didn’t. In fact, this is a gross breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Kia ora.

I rise on behalf of ACT to indicate we will be supporting this bill, the Pae Ora (Disestablishment of Māori Health Authority) Amendment Bill. ACT opposed the establishment of the Māori Health Authority. We also campaigned on that in last year’s election and we also put that into our coalition agreement, which became part of the Government’s 100-day plan. We think that having a Government department predicated entirely on race is wrong, and it really is a simplistic way of looking at how we should deal with healthcare in this country.

Dividing New Zealanders into two ethnic groups to receive public services does not help us deliver better public services, and, actually, it’s a poor analysis of the causes of poor health outcomes. It creates division and, really, isn’t the way we want to go forward. Also, the report that was done on the authority’s lack of progress, I actually said that concerns are being raised about staff transfers not being focused on critical skills and expertise needed to actually deliver the health outcomes that were promised. The report also found that the authority was tracking behind the Government’s commitments, and under-delivering, resulting in, actually, Māori being underserved, not better served.

We want to continue to ensure that our health system delivers for all New Zealanders, based on need, and we are very committed, as the Minister outlined in his speech, to actually closing the gap for all New Zealanders, Māori and non-Māori. This bill also doesn’t remove the ability for Māori to be consulted, and we actually want to see more Māori health providers actually providing care at the coalface. We want to get rid of this bureaucracy and actually get down to delivery. I commend this bill to the House. Thank you.

Thank you Mr. Speaker. I rise on behalf of New Zealand First in support of the Pae Ora (Disestablishment of Māori Health Authority) Amendment Bill.

I’d like to begin my contribution acknowledging the Minister, the Hon Dr Shane Reti, and pointing out a number of comments that he’s made in his introductory remarks which resonate well with me—that we do remain, from this side of the House, absolutely committed to improving Māori health outcomes; noting also that the staff and functions of Te Aka Whai Ora will be transferred to Health New Zealand; and reprioritising the funds from the bureaucracy to the front line, because it’s at the front line, we know, that health gain will be improved. If you have a massive bureaucracy that is all about ideology, no health gain comes as a result.

Our public health system is accountable for its delivery; a public health system that is keenly focused on delivering positive health outcomes for all New Zealanders, and that’s New Zealand First: we believe that equity of access for all based on need, based on clinical need, must be a core function in public health. Māori health equity is a core function of the public health sector. Māori health equity should be matrixed across the entire public health system, not ring-fenced, not put into a little box on the side, with bureaucratic capture. The delivery of Māori and, for that matter, Pacific health gain is a fundamental responsibility of our public health system.

Te Aka Whai Ora is the commissioning arm of the public health system for Māori; however, Te Aka Whai Ora’s ability to actually deliver was very limited. It was not the vehicle for change that many people had hoped for. I will also note very briefly that the iwi-Māori partnership boards under this amendment bill will get the actual power they should have had in the first place. Currently, under the Pae Ora legislation, they do not have any commissioning powers but the future for them is to really come inside the health system and be that network provider down to the grassroots, where Māori health gain will be improved. I commend the bill to the House.

Te Pāti Māori stands up and speaks in absolute opposition to what has been proposed here, not only in this bill but the way that it is coming to us. I cannot state enough that the wellbeing of your tangata w’enua, the indigenous people of Aotearoa, deserves to have more time and deserves, as Te Tiriti, to be heard in the tribunal. In fact, the efforts of those that are out on the ground making this will happen day to day needed to be validated and felt by the Minister before us.

I want to congratulate this Government! I want to congratulate you too, our Minister! From day one, you have carried on the kōrero that this is a two-tier system based on race—based on race. Your party has continued on the kōrero of this being a solution based on racial segregation. And New Zealand First, in fact, said it was about separatism. In fact, we had ACT also calling it an “act of apartheid”. Well, excuse us—excuse us for having to have a separate need to be able to have our wellbeing addressed, because we are dying earlier than everyone else.

And let’s just go there—let’s just go there and talk about the facts—because the reality is that we have learnt from this Government that Māori are expendable. And the politicking that is going on before the very nation of Aotearoa—and the world—is that you have determined that you know better what Māori want. And there’s been a culmination of years and years of this solution. But let’s just talk about it. Let’s just reflect. Māori die seven years earlier than everyone else. That’s not a myth; that’s a fact. That’s not an enjoyable position to be in. It’s not something that we desire to have as separatists. Māori men die eight years earlier compared to other males. Our men die on average at 73 years old. That’s probably six years after the SuperGold card. And then we, of course, have Māori: 53 percent of us die under 65 years old. Now, let’s just remember non-Māori men are doing an average of 83 years. So we have comparatively a poor performance of life based on the fact that we have had to endure 180 years of a health system that has completely failed us.

I refuse to let you carry on the dialogue that our people are failing. The health system has completely failed my kaumātua, my own generation, and my mokopuna. We haven’t failed. We never left our w’enua. We have done nothing wrong. We’ve had to endure the state of a system that was forced on us. So what we have now is a narrative. You have successfully conjured up a narrative that we were enjoying preferential treatment as tangata w’enua, and, as a consequence, this frenzy of misinformation and racism—the fact that Māori radicals want to take over—you have completely created a narrative that has got the rest of Aotearoa and those who are not Māori, those who are not enduring this horrific health system that we’re in, thinking that we deserve and we want something different based on race.

I guess the other side of it, too, is that you can continue to tell us that you’re listening to Māori, whānau, hapū, iwi communities; yet the Iwi Chairs Forum has hit out and said there’s been no communication of the alternative. So not only have we had to endure a whole revolting campaign of you being so desperate to get into power that you created a narrative that Māori wanted different treatments in Aotearoa but you have continued to also sit there and offer no alternative, no option. Just get rid of bureaucracy and don’t worry about the fact of what’s going on in Te Whatu Ora and the fact they had 18 months. Don’t worry about the fact that Oranga Tamariki is killing our people and you’ve got a system that’s had reviews after reviews saying, “Get rid of it.” No, no, no. Let’s pick a moment in time and focus on what you want to focus the rest of Aotearoa, and that is you have gone on and you have conjured up a narrative that Māori deserve to die earlier; we deserve to be unwell; we deserve to have a system that’s designed by you all who have got no experience. We saw the most horrific racism during COVID. None of you have talked about that.

But, thankfully, we’ve got a second reading and a third reading, where I’ll continue to take our people on the enjoyment of what it is like to have a Government that puts urgency before the wellbeing of tangata w’enua. I am ashamed to be in this House debating this bill. It is not a moment to be proud of, Minister, but we will carry that on in the second and the third reading. Kia ora rā.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I rise in support of the Pae Ora (Disestablishment of the Māori Health Authority) Amendment Bill at its first reading. We have said that we campaigned clearly that we were going to disestablish the Māori Health Authority. We were voted in by the people of New Zealand with a clear electoral mandate, and we are delivering on that mandate as part of our first 100 days in coalition agreements with coalition partners.

We know that the solutions for Māori communities come from Māori communities, not from Wellington bureaucracies. This Government is committed to lifting outcomes for Māori and non-Māori alike, and it’s not about the shape of the system; it’s about making sure that it actually delivers for all New Zealanders. That is what this Government is committed to doing—lifting the standards of healthcare for all New Zealanders—and this bill is a step in that direction. I support it.

Madam Speaker—Mr Speaker.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O’Connor): You’re allowed to look up when you make the call, Ms Verrall!

Hon Dr AYESHA VERRALL: What a challenge for our country, the unacceptable inequities that Māori face in health—the fact that Māori, as has been outlined by my colleague, die seven years earlier, in the 21st century, when we have been working on this issue for about a century, since the birth of our health system. There is no good reason for it. We must not accept it.

As a health practitioner, I have seen many health practitioners be confronted by that. In fact, it’s not uncommon, working in a hospital, to go and see your patients’ data audited and to have your colleagues look over at you and point to the fact that the outcomes you are achieving are not good enough for Māori. That has been something I have seen my colleagues go through, and many of them have recognised that they, despite being totally committed to the health of each individual in front of them, have none the less worked in a way that has been unable to see those benefits translate into health gains for Māori.

For my colleagues, for whom the idea that they are caring for each person to the best of their ability is the centre of their professional identity, this cuts them to the core. I have watched many of my colleagues go through that realisation and that process of understanding that things had to be done differently slowly, sometimes painfully, sometimes with a lot of confrontation between activists within our profession or our health services and the professionals concerned.

But our country has come a long way, and when we consulted on the review of the health system in the first term of the Labour Government, there was strong support for the development of a Māori Health Authority in order to make sure that the multiple ways in which the system was failing Māori could be systematically addressed.

What is so disappointing is that something which is the culmination of so much study and work and consultation in Aotearoa is now being removed by a Government who refuses to listen, under urgency, with no opportunity for select committee and no opportunity for the Waitangi Tribunal to be able to comment on this thing of critical importance to Māori. It is shameful, and, Dr Reti, my view is that your conduct in this is cowardly.

It is a moral challenge for us to address health outcomes for Māori. We have heard repeatedly that Dr Reti has a dream for Māori, but I don’t see any evidence of a plan. I don’t see any evidence of anything that will actually change things. I see evidence of populism, actually, of sacrificing the needs of the minority in order to gain a majority and to take up power. I think it’s a disgrace.

I want to turn to the issue of how we could make substantial health gains for Māori and for non-Māori, and that is in community and primary care. That was the purpose of the localities which I see in this bill. Their roll-out is now deferred. That is the importance of the relationship between iwi-Māori partnership boards and localities. Unless we get that right, we will not be able to generate the positive outcomes we want for the health of everyone. We will continue to have an uncoordinated, messy system of primary care where the bits don’t join up and people can’t access what they need. Such an important change. I cannot believe the Government is sleepwalking into this without a select committee process.

I stand to speak in support of the Pae Ora (Disestablishment of Māori Health Authority) Amendment Bill. We’re committed to improving health outcomes for all New Zealanders, including Māori. We recognise that communities know best what works for them. We’ll continue to work with all population groups to improve outcomes. We don’t want a healthcare system that will deliver more bureaucracy than bandages, more paperwork than peripherally inserted central catheter lines, more heartbreak than heart health. So, therefore, I commend this bill to the House.

Kua tae mai te rā. Ka nui taku riri ki tēnei Kāwanatanga, engari he nui kē atu taku pōuri.ki te tū i tēnei rā ki te kōrero e pā ana ki tēnei pire. Ko te kaupapa ko te whakakahore i Te Aka Whai Ora 

He pōuri nā te mea ko tētahi o aku whanaunga e ārahi ana i tēnei pire i roto i tēnei Whare, e haukoti ana i te nohoanga o te Taraipiunara. Ko tana hapū tētahi o ngā kaikerēme, ko Te Kapotai tētahi o ngā kaikerēme o te whakakorenga o Te Aka Whaiora.

Ko taku whanaunga te tangata arero rua. I roto i tēnei Whare, i whakautu ia i te pātai a Peeni Henare mehemea ka noho ia, ka kōrero ia, ka whakarongo ia ki ōna iwi Māori, ki ngā hapū, ki ngā iwi, ki te Taraipiunara. Ko tana whakautu i tērā wiki, “āe. Āe, ka noho au, ka whakarongo au, ka āta whakaaro au i ngā kōrero.” Engari i tēnei rā kua tau mai tēnei pire ki roto i tēnei Whare, hei te mutunga o tēnei rā, āpōpō pea, kua whakakorengia tēnei. E kī, e kī!

Āe, e tika ana te kōrero, nā wai i teka? Nā te Minita i teka i tērā wiki. Ka āta kōrero ia, whakarongo ia; kahore. Kahore.

E taku whanaunga, e mōhio ana ahau e poho kererū ana ō whanaunga.

[The day has arrived. I am very angry at this Government, but my sadness is much greater to stand here today to speak about this bill. The subject is the disestablishment of the Māori Health Authority.

I am saddened because it is one of my relations that is leading this bill through this House, and cutting off the sitting of the tribunal. His hapū is one of the claimants; Te Kapotai is one of the claimants of the disestablishment of the Māori Health Authority. 

My relation is a two-faced man. In this House, he answered the question of Peeni Henare whether he would sit with, discuss with, and listen to his Māori people, to the hapū, to the iwi, to the tribunal. His answer last week was, “Yes. Yes, I will sit, I will listen, I will carefully consider the discussion.” But today this bill has arrived in this House, at the end of the day, maybe tomorrow, this will be disestablished. How dare you!

Yes, that statement is true; whose lie was it? It was the Minister that lied last week. He will carefully discuss, he will listen; no way. No way.

To my relation, I know your relations are very proud.]

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O’Connor): Ms Prime, I realise that I’m subject to the translation, but just be aware that you are running close to the line with some of these personal comments. But carry on.

Hon WILLOW-JEAN PRIME: Ehara koe i taku whanaunga, e te Māngai. E kōrero ana ahau ki te Minita, ko ia taku whanaunga. Nō reira e hāngai ana ahau ki ngā kōrero, e mōhio ana ahau ki tō kōrero.

[You are not my relation, Speaker. I am speaking to the Minister. He is my relation. So I am in alignment with the statements. I know what you are speaking about.]

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O’Connor): I repeat my comment, Ms Prime.

Hon WILLOW-JEAN PRIME: E te Minita, e mōhio ana ahau, tō iwi e poho kererū i tō mahi hei tākuta, nā te mea kei roto i ō ringaringa, e te Minita, kei roto i ō ringaringa te pae ora o wō tātou whānau; tamariki, mokopuna. Engari kei konei i tēnei rā me te mau mai i tēnei pire i te whakakāhore i Te Aka Whai Ora. Ō rātou wawata mō te pae ora, mō wā tātou tamariki, mokopuna.

E hoki ana ōku mahara ki te wā o taku matua, a Kevin Prime, i tīmata i te Ngāti Hine Health Trust, i te taha i a Uncle Erima Henare, i a Rob Cooper mā. Tō rātou hiahia kia whai i te oranga mō wā tātou tamariki, mokopuna, whānau Māori, e tautoko ana i tēnei kaupapa o Te Aka Whai Ora kia whakatutuki i ngā wawata o rātou mā. Ngā mea e ora tonu ana i tēnei rā, pērā i a Aunty Moe Milne, ko ia tētahi i tū ana ki mua i te Taraipiunara me te whakahē i ō mahi, me tana tino pōuri ko koe, he whanaunga, e mau mai ana i tēnei ki roto i tēnei Whare.

Ko taku kōrero ki a koe, e taku whanaunga, e tino whakamā ana ahau i ō mahi. Āta whakaarohia, kei roto i ō ringaringa te oranga mō wā tātou whanaunga, tamariki, mokopuna.

[To the Minister, I know that your iwi is very proud of your efforts as a doctor, because in your hands, Minister, in your hands is the healthy future of our families; children, grandchildren. But here you are today bringing this bill to disestablish the Māori Health Authority; their aspirations for a healthy future, for our children, grandchildren.

My memories return to the time of my uncle, Kevin Prime, who started the Ngāti Hine Health Trust, alongside Uncle Erima Henare, and Rob Cooper and others. Their desire was to pursue wellbeing for our children, grandchildren, and Māori families, and were in support of this initiative, Te Aka Whai Ora, to realise their aspirations. The ones who are still alive today, like Aunty Moe Milne, she is one of the ones that is standing before the tribunal and opposing your efforts, and her deep sadness that you, a relative, is bringing this into this House.

What I say to you, my relation, is that I am very embarrassed by your endeavours. Consider carefully that in your hands is the wellbeing of our relations, children, and grandchildren.]

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O’Connor): Ms Prime, direct your comments to the Chair.

Hon WILLOW-JEAN PRIME: E te Māngai, e kōrero ana ahau ki te Minita. Ko ia taku whanaunga. Ko tāku e inoi ana ki a ia, āe. Āe.

[Speaker, I am speaking to the Minister. He is my relation. What I am asking of him, yes, yes.]

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O’Connor): Ms Prime, you direct your comments through the Chair, and you do not use the first person.

Hon WILLOW-JEAN PRIME: E te Māngai, e kōrero ana ahau ki taku whanaunga, me te pātai, me te inoi, me te tono, me te tohe, aha rānei ki a ia, me tana mahi whakahē, whakamutu i tēnei, Te Aka Whai Ora, me taku kōrero ki a ia e tino pōuri ana ahau i tana mahi, e tino riri ana ahau i tana mahi.

[Speaker, I am speaking to my relation, and asking and pleading and requesting and disputing and whatever else of him and his efforts to condemn and bring an end to this, the Māori Health Authority, and my statement to him that I am deeply saddened by his efforts, and I am very angry at his endeavours.]

Point of order, e te Pīka. Our whanaunga is never one person. We don’t speak in Māori individually; we speak collectively. Our whanaunga is a hapū and an iwi.

Well, I’m not going to rule on that. I’m ruling on the language that was being used that came through my translation that Ms Prime was using, and that was what I was ruling on. So—

Debbie Ngarewa-Packer: E te Pīka, point of order.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O’Connor): Is this a new point of order, Ms Ngarewa-Packer?

Debbie Ngarewa-Packer: It’s speaking to the previous point of order. If we are going to be—

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O’Connor): Well, I’m sorry, but I’ve ruled on that already.

I rise to support this bill. This Government is committed to lift health outcomes for all New Zealanders, including Māori. Disestablishing the Māori Health Authority in no way means an end to this Government’s focus on Māori health for those who need it.

It presents an opportunity to identify more efficient ways to work together with Māori to deliver solutions; a saving which can go back into better health outcomes. This bill strikes the right balance between service delivery on needs, not race, while ensuring Māori continue to have their voice being heard. Therefore, I commend this bill to the House.

This bill is set down for second reading immediately.

Second Reading