Pae Ora (Disestablishment of Māori Health Authority) Amendment Bill

I move, That the Pae Ora (Disestablishment of Māori Health Authority) Amendment Bill be now read a third time.

This is a simple piece of legislation, and I will conclude with a few simple closing remarks recognising all the work that the House has put into it over this past 24 hours. This bill lays the foundation for a future health system that is focused on health need.

I want to reiterate that I believe we all have the same dream for the health system: we all want to address health inequities, we all want to shorten waiting lists, and we all want a workforce that isn’t overstretched and that has the right skills to respond effectively to all our diverse populations. I said in the first reading debate that even though this particular version of the dream with the Māori Health Authority is coming to an end, I wanted to paint a new one, one that is outcomes-focused, driven by need, and with decisions made closer to the home and hapū.

This Government is totally focused on outcomes. The question we ask about any policy is: will it improve outcomes? Will it mean people get better care? Will it mean people get faster care? Will it mean people will get the care that suits their circumstances, including cultural competency? We will be setting clear health targets to drive improved outcomes, but I want to be very clear that we will be setting ambitious targets that will take some time and resources to meet.

The Hauora Māori Advisory Committee will be retained and supported to do even more, including further monitoring Māori health outcomes. The outcomes we are focused on are those that respond to health need. Throughout the debates on this bill, members have repeatedly highlighted disparities in Māori health outcomes. I acknowledge these disparities and the need to improve them. As I’ve said before, when we focus on need, we very quickly find that it is Māori who have the greatest need in most areas of health.

My dream for the health system isn’t about bureaucratic structures and endless plans and reports; it’s about identifying need and responding to it. This bill retains the iwi-Māori partnership boards. They will work with their communities, with hapū and iwi, to identify those needs. There is a positive obligation on Health New Zealand to work with the boards in developing priorities for improving hauora Māori. We seek to empower iwi-Māori partnership boards, but for those who are needy and have capacity beyond what Pae Ora allowed. One of the fundamental differences in approach is enabled by this legislation: this Government believes that decisions should be made closer to the home and hapū. Local circumstances require local solutions rather than national bureaucracies. The iwi-Māori partnership boards will have a role in the planning and delivery of healthcare in their communities. Local input into health services, especially primary and community services, is good for everyone and a priority for this Government.

There will be more to say and more thinking to be done. This bill allows us to pause work on localities while we work out how to ensure genuine local influence on local service design and delivery. We need to have ways of working that identify and support local solutions to local health challenges. That means using data, measuring progress, and working with people who know their communities best.

Primary and community healthcare is most people’s gateway to the health system. When we get this right, we’ll be supporting New Zealanders to stay in good health for longer wherever they are, whoever they are, and whatever their health needs are.

I want to reiterate some of the key changes in this narrow bill: (1) Māori Health Authority staff are to transfer to Health New Zealand and the Ministry of Health—this will retain a focus on Māori health and retain organisational knowledge, including any gains that have been achieved—(2) uplifting of the Māori Health Advisory Committee into advisory and monitoring roles; (3) uplifting of iwi-Māori partnership boards, enhancing their relationship with local communities; and (4) pausing of the schedule for localities while we reconsider their place.

Finally, I want to once again acknowledge the many staff of the authority who have worked so hard. Your expertise is essential to achieving this new dream. I know you will be welcomed into Health New Zealand or the Ministry of Health.

We can choose form or function; I choose function. We can choose activism or actions; I choose actions. We can choose outrage or outcomes; I choose outcomes. I commend this bill to the House.

The question is that the motion be agreed to.

Mr Speaker, I want to indicate to you and the House that in the final minute of my contribution today, I will be speaking in te reo Māori.

I’ve known Dr Reti all my life. In fact, Dr Reti was my family doctor, a doctor to my father, and, in fact, Dr Reti also delivered my son into this world. Dr Reti and I also entered Parliament together in 2014, and yet here we are: sadly, one built a whare; the other dismantled it.

I am sad today. I wear a black suit to mark the passing of my grand-uncle John Davis, who is being buried today in Ngāti Manu, and with the help of Te Aka Whai Ora, had it been given more of an opportunity, I’m sure it would have continued to support him in life. I also wear a black suit today to acknowledge that this bill is taking the Māori people backwards.

Dr Reti has said outside of this House that he wanted to hold his powder to deliver a grand plan in the grandeur of the House, to give it depth and volume and the lustre. The contribution throughout the entire passage of this bill from Dr Reti, and indeed members of the Government, has lacked depth, volume, and lustre. In fact, the depth is so shallow that the dissatisfaction on this side of the House with the answers and the explanations given by the Minister and this Government shows that the depth of thinking in this action was not there.

When it comes to volume—volume? Well, if anything, it’s more silence—silence from the Minister and the Government when asked and pressed on matters relating to whether or not he and the Government have met with key stakeholders and whether or not they would be prepared to wait for the Waitangi Tribunal and their recommendations. Nothing but silence from the other side of the House.

Lustre? Well, lacklustre is a better description—lacklustre in the aspiration for the health of Māori people and indeed all New Zealanders.

It disappoints me so much when I think of this whakataukī that says “Kaua e mate wheke, mate ā ururoa!”—“Don’t die passively like the octopus, die fighting like the shark!”—and I look towards my colleague, my whanaunga and my friend Dr Reti to say, please, we, the Māori people and this side of the House, ask you to fight like a shark. Even when those around him seem intent on pulling him down, the ask is that he fights like a shark for our people.

Dr Reti has said he is focused on priorities and targets. The statistics in health for Māori clearly state a case, then, that there will be increased funding from this Government for Māori health outcomes. The statistics are very clear. This House will be looking to the other side of the House, that Government, who are intent on austerity and cuts in the public sector and health services in order to make a tax cut for New Zealanders.

We will be holding this Government to account to make sure that their words around prioritising and focusing the spend and the energy of the health sector to where it’s needed the most will actually be delivered upon. That’s for Māori. The statistics are all there—they are clear—and if this Government had given the Waitangi Tribunal the opportunity for an urgency hearing, every member on that side of the House would have seen the case put forward for those statistics that paint a grim picture for the Māori health of this country.

I make the point that what’s good for Māori is good for this country. Not only is this bill and the bill that’s about to come a detriment to Māori health statistics, it is to this country.

There’s an old saying that I remember Sir John Key used to say outside of Parliament. He’d say, about a rising tide, that all boats rise. Well, my recommendation to the Minister and this Government is that the waka was left behind, that the only boats that rose here were the ones that have dictated to this Government that apparently there’s special privilege for Māori. There is no privilege in dying seven years earlier—show me where that privilege is. There is no privilege in higher rates of type 2 diabetes—show me where that privilege is. There is no privilege for a higher death rate of lung cancer by Māori women—there is no privilege in that. So I am extremely disappointed that today we are taking our people backwards.

I want to acknowledge all of the hard-working people in the health sector, not just the Māori health workers but all workers in the health sector: many Māori, many Pākehā who have continued to support the health aspirations of Māori.

The Minister, in his contribution in the third reading, said that his grand plan would take time. The Minister and this Government gave the Māori Health Authority 18 months—18 months—to see whether or not they could turn around decades of inequities—decades of inequities—and I can guarantee that Minister and this Government that our people can’t wait. He said it would take time; our people can’t wait. They deserve better and we will be pushing this Government to make sure that they deliver that.

Back to the health workers. All have said to me and to us that their commitment to Māori health in this country is unwavering. I say thank you, and I say once again, “Kaua e mate wheke, mate ā ururoa”, to continue to fight for the health outcomes for Māori communities up and down this country. To the team at Te Aka Whai Ora, ka whawhai tonu mātou, and we will continue to fight and continue to champion the cause that you are all fighting for in our communities and in the bureaucracies that have been established by Government.

I also want to note the mishandling of this bill from its inception to here, the third reading, and even to its commencement date in June. My colleagues will no doubt flesh this out even further, but the mishandling has been absolutely appalling. It flies in the face of years and generations of work through the tribunal, good work through different shades of Government over decades, and it’s absolutely shameful, the handling of this bill. The Minister admitted himself that the commencement date in June, set out in the bill, was to allow a transition, etc. But what we were saying was it should allow the voice of our people to be heard.

I want to now turn to te reo Māori. Ki aku tamariki, i whawhai tō pāpā mō te oati a tō tupuna, a Erima, a tō tupuna, a Rob Cooper. I tutuki ia, engari kua tukuna atu mā tētahi e whakakore. Ko tāku e oati atu ana ki a kōrua, ki a koutou, ki tō tāua iwi Māori, kei konei tonu tō iwi e whawhai ana. Ka kore mātou e hinga, ka kore mātou pahemo. Ko tō tāua whakapapa ki runga i te nukuroa ka haere tonu ki roto i ngā tau maha kei mua i a tātou.

E aku tamariki, ko taku oati ki a koe, ka whawhai tonu tō pāpā, ka whawhai tonu tō iwi, ka whawhai tonu te iwi Māori mō āke, āke, āke.

[To my children, your father fought for the vow made by your grandfather, by Erima, and your predecessor, by Rob Cooper. I was successful, but it has now been given over to someone else to abolish. What I vow to the two of you, to all of you, and to our Māori people, your people are still here fighting. We will not fall; we will not pass away. Our genealogy on the breadth of the land will continue throughout the many years that are before us.

To my children, my vow to you, your father will continue to fight, your people will continue to fight, and your Māori people will continue to fight for ever and ever.]

Karanga, kārangaranga waiata whānau e

Unuhia te rito o te harakeke, kei hea te kōmako e kō?

Whakatairangitia, rere ki uta, rere ki tai

Māu e kī mai, “He aha te mea nui?”

Māku e kī atu, “He tangata, he tangata, he tangata”.

[Call, put out the call, sing, family

Pull out the new shoot of the flax bush, where will the bellbird then sing?

Elevate it, fly inland, fly out to sea

Should you say to me, “What is the greatest thing?”

I will say to you, “It is people, it is people, it is people”.]

I share this waiata with us this morning as I grieve the loss of Te Aka Whai Ora. Because in te ao Māori we have a term, moumou, and Whaea Debbie Ngarewa-Packer spoke of the moumou of the loss of Efeso, and now we have the moumou of losing Te Aka Whai Ora through the acts of this Government through urgency in this House.

That waiata reflects on the importance of people at the centre of what we do and why we are here. I’m not here to play games. I am focused on the health and wellbeing of our people. And when I see a blatant disregard for the people of New Zealand and te iwi Māori, to shut us out, to have an opinion on such an important piece of legislation—4,685 submitters contributed towards Pae Ora, and now, within a matter of hours, maybe a day and a half, we see the end of half of what Pae Ora set out to do.

I reflect on the claimants and the aspirations and the challenges that they shared in the Wai 2575 health outcomes inquiry and the evidence that they contributed towards the landmark report, which set the framework for Te Pae Ora, and then the full health and disability systems review that took place that endorsed the same findings and recommendations of the Waitangi Tribunal.

Because, you see, we have unacceptable Māori health inequalities. We suffer from institutional racism within the machine. The general health system has not improved Māori health outcomes. Approaches to design, purchasing, and contracting of health services have only worsened health inequalities.

Yet, within a day and a half, we have heard no plan. We have just heard a repeal, a whakakāhore, a whakakoretake ana i Te Aka Whai Ora. Ngā kaimahi, ngā kaumātua, ngā tohunga i tohua tērā rōpū kia tū motuhake mō te hauora o te iwi Māori. E whakakāhore ana i tēnei pire motuhake te Rōpū Kākāriki. Kāhore te Rōpū Kākāriki e tautoko ana. Me tū rangatira mō te hauora Māori; me tū motuhake tēnei mea Te Aka Whai Ora ahakoa ngā mahi a tēnei Kāwanatanga. Me pupuri tonu i tērā mauri.

[We have just heard a repeal, an abolishment, a negation of the purpose of the Māori Health Authority. The Green Party opposes this bill. The Green Party is not in support. We need to stand nobly for Māori health; this thing, the Māori Health Authority, should stand independently despite the actions of this Government. That life force should be maintained.]

Last night, the Waitangi Tribunal, at 6 o’clock—you see, because I’m watching the tribunal all the time. They confirmed that their jurisdiction had now ended; that they could not hold the urgent inquiry into the disestablishment of Te Aka Whai Ora. It’s now vacated. All that time and energy from our claimants, our hapū, our hauora Māori, our health leadership that contributed, e whakakoretake ana i ērā kaikōrero [they are negating those speakers]—their work, their contributions, to uphold and share again, as they had previously done on Wai 2575. They were doing it on replay—press replay, we’re doing it again—because that’s how important Te Aka Whai Ora is to te iwi Māori. So I stand frustrated, I stand angry, and I feel ripped off for the people of New Zealand and te iwi Māori.

In discussions and dialogue with Kahurangi Tureiti Moxon—she’s famous, you know. On Breakfast TV yesterday she shared about how important it was for Te Aka Whai Ora to exist; that we might have rima paihēneti—this little 5 percent of a budget to do something and have control over it; that we might have the ability to exercise our rangatiratanga over a tiny space of Vote Health. But instead, she shared on Breakfast TV yesterday, well, we’re being plonked right back in where we started, and, in fact, into a system that’s not working for Māori and hasn’t worked for Māori and will never work for Māori.

Because, you see, we were never asked if Te Aka Whai Ora should be disestablished. Nā wai i teka kua tū he hui? Kei hea ngā hui ki roto i Te Taitokerau mō tēnei kaupapa? Kahore.

[Who lied that there were meetings held? Where were the meetings in Northland about this topic? There were none.]

Just because you campaigned on a kaupapa, doesn’t mean that te iwi Māori gives you the whakaae [permission] to go ahead and disestablish this institution of rangatiratanga hauora Māori nei [Māori health sovereignty].

So I have to ask the Minister, his officials, and the Government: why do you believe that mainstream has the solutions for te iwi Māori? Why do you believe that we should be plonked right back into a system that has deprived us of thriving lives and only increased health inequalities for the people of te iwi Māori, let alone our tāngata whaikaha, let alone our rainbow communities, let alone migrants and immigrants and our refugees?

I keep thinking of our kaimahi, and I worry for them, because will they get pay parity when they go into mainstream? Will our kaimahi be recognised for those skills that they have? Because, you see, they’re specialists and they left Te Whatu Ora for Te Aka Whai Ora and other mainstream institutions to be steely-eyed focused on hauora Māori. So will they receive the gentle care that they so deserve?

I heard from a cousin last night who works in Te Whatu Ora, and he shared how hard it was working in mainstream, being the one Māori in the team, and the battle it is for him to articulate ao Māori perspectives in a mainstream machine that really considers us all New Zealanders. Yet on our wards we need whānau who can care, and that’s why I think our kaimahi from Te Aka Whai Ora are so important. They sit in our hospitals. They are not a bureaucracy. Less than 300 kaimahi e tātou mā. Let’s not use the “This is a bureaucracy, a Māori bureaucracy”. It isn’t. It’s less than 300 kaimahi. Riana Manuel, he taonga mō te iwi Māori, he pou whirinaki mō te hauora Māori.

[Riana Manuel, a treasure for the Māori people, a pillar of support for Māori health.]

She comes with a whakapapa and a legacy of achievement, of advocacy, and knowledge of the health sector, let alone her mātauranga Māori that she brings from Pare Hauraki. Riana stood at Healing Our Spirit Worldwide international indigenous conference last year in Canada, and she was our Aotearoa keynote. You know how proud te iwi Māori was standing alongside Riana and singing “Ka Pioioi” for her? Because on the international stage, Te Aka Whai Ora means something—Te Aka Whai Ora meant something in that gathering of 5,000 indigenous people. Yet we have a Government that doesn’t care—it doesn’t care about the institution of Te Aka Whai Ora and this māreikura Riana Manuel who will lose her job, and where will she fit as the leader that she is in hauora Māori? As her kaimahi reach out to me and say, “Please protect Riana. She is inspiring. We need her. We cannot lose her.”, we have failed, voted down. We could have deleted the clause and enabled her to lift and shift into the new machine, the 80,000plus strong workforce, and let her be the leader that she is, and pay her what she is worth, too—just saying.

Chris Luxon has shared he wants te ao Māori to thrive, and when Māori do well, all New Zealanders do well. Well, show us the plan—show us the plan e tātou mā. Kia ora tātou.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I stand on behalf of ACT in support of the Pae Ora (Disestablishment of Māori Health Authority) Amendment Bill. ACT believes that Māori should have equitable access to healthcare, but we believe that all New Zealanders should have the same level of access to healthcare no matter what ethnic group you belong to or where you live in our country.

The previous health system had many shortcomings and didn’t address local issues such as those of iwi. But the Māori Health Authority provided another level of bureaucracy, another central government organisation that was failing to prove its worth. The authority’s progress report found that concerns were raised about staff transfers not being focused on skills and expertise but, instead, on taking Māori staff from Te Whatu Ora. The report also found the authority was tracking behind in its delivery. Removing the authority did not remove provision for the Government to engage and consult with Māori on Māori matters.

ACT believes in localism and in empowering communities and that healthcare delivers on needs, not race. We believe that healthcare is tailored to the individual. All in the coalition Government believe in better health outcomes for Māori and all New Zealanders without the addition of any unnecessary bureaucracy. When we lift the health of New Zealanders, we must not leave anybody behind, and this Government is addressing that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I stand on behalf of New Zealand First in support of the Pae Ora (Disestablishment of Māori Health Authority) Amendment Bill. I begin my contribution by acknowledging that this bill delivers on the coalition commitment of all parties in this Government. I’d like to thank the health Minister for his leadership on this bill and to actually acknowledge the support that New Zealand First will give him as he drives this mission to ensure we have equity of access and good, positive health gain for all New Zealanders.

New Zealand First and the coalition Government remain committed to improving Māori health outcomes. The coalition Government supports a public health system that is keenly focused on delivering these positive health outcomes for all New Zealanders. New Zealand First believes that equity of access for all, based on need—based on clinical need—must be a core foundation in our public health system.

My leader, the Rt Hon Winston Peters, has always, in fact, been an opponent of the Māori Health Authority as a separatist, bureaucratic behemoth. Māori health equity should be matrixed right across the entire public health system because the delivery of Māori health gain is a fundamental responsibility of the entire public health system, and it is this public health system that is accountable for its delivery, but our health system is struggling. Why would it not be struggling? When you have a previous Government, during a pandemic, with once-in-a-generation health reforms, of course it was going to be struggling.

This next layer of bureaucracy has actually failed to deliver Māori health gain. Where are the outcomes? We have not seen any from this. But this coalition Government will continue work to provide better health outcomes for all New Zealanders. I commend this bill to the House.

This is a split call. Te Pāti Māori and Greens—five minutes.

Tēnā koe e te Pīka. Gosh, I wish we could have these people’s eight minutes. First of all, I think it’s really important to put context to the rest of Aotearoa, because that’s who we’re speaking to today, because taringa mārō over to my left, they’re not listening. They won’t listen, and why would they listen when 83 percent of Māori did not support this Government? That is the important part of why we’re here. It isn’t about race or ethnicity; it’s about rights. We have rights. We have rights and interests under Te Tiriti that were addressed here, that were addressing wrongs, and no one can deny those wrongs, because this House has acknowledged not only those Wai claims but the settlements of iwi.

What we have here is a weak Government that lacks courage to follow through on solutions that tangata w’enua came up with for themselves. They lacked the courage to be transformational and instead have resorted back to the comfort of a system that they know really, really well, and they know it well because it was designed by the very people who took our land, our language. It’s designed by the tools of colonisation—and you may hate that word, but if the shoe fits, wear it. Just imagine what we could’ve had. I refuse to have a tangi today, because all you’ve done is rarked up the fire in our belly to come back at this a second time. Do not be fooled that your three—if you’re lucky, perhaps six—years of holding this line is going to keep us down, because it won’t. What we have is a Minister here who admits that the iwi-Māori partnership boards need to be powered up; there was no when, there was no how; that we have a mass of data to be collected; there was no when, there was no how; that we have locality plans that need to be worked on; there was no when, there was no how; that we have regional empowerment strategies, but there was no when, there was no how.

So I want to dive into what would have been—what would have been—and keep our w’anau focused on what would have been if we didn’t have to sit there and go to places and clinics and doctors that didn’t recognise us, that we couldn’t relate to; if we didn’t have to feel judged; if we didn’t have to be in a system that was designed to work against us, that wouldn’t send us to the specialist. I want to focus on what we could have done and what we will do—what we will do. I refuse to tangi, because you will not win—you have never won at anything. This is the whole focus on where we get frustrated with you, that we continue to do things we could’ve done. We could’ve had free primary care for w’anau, and we will do that. We could’ve had free dental care for w’anau, and we will do that. We could’ve had free delivery of medication for houses for te w’anau earning less than $60,000, and we will do that. We will implement a Māori health card, and we will have an independent Māori health authority. It will come back better, it will be stronger, and you will have less say in it.

The beauty of it is that 70 percent of the population of Māori are under the age of 40, and you come from parties where your population aren’t procreating and you aren’t getting any younger. You are politicians on the eve of legacy parties, and you will not come back. You will not get a second chance at doing this. I feel we will have Mokopuna Ora. We will make sure that you all sit here, this Government, and enjoy your kai, enjoy the feast of your feats, enjoy celebrating and salivating in what you think you have done, enjoy thinking you have stopped us—

Carl Bates: We’re enjoying delivering things.

DEBBIE NGAREWA-PACKER: —especially you, Carl. Digest it well. Digest your racism well. Make sure it goes into your puku and sits heavy.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O’Connor): Ms Ngarewa-Packer, you will withdraw and apologise.

DEBBIE NGAREWA-PACKER: I withdraw and apologise. Enjoy—

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O’Connor): And you will also use full names.

DEBBIE NGAREWA-PACKER: Enjoy, Government, the feel of being anti-Māori, because this will not be something we let you forget.

We will hold the Minister of Health to account. The Minister has guaranteed that the solution this Government promises will be better then what Māori designed. This Minister has promised that they will stand by and do better than what the Māori Health Authority promised to achieve. So we will hold the Government and the Minister to account. We will question you every chance we get. We will turn up in hordes of w’anau every chance we get. We will make sure we will eyeball you when it comes back and you have failed us. We will not let this Government get off the skates, get off any hook, when it has failed us, because looking at this Government, not a single one of you uses the Māori Health Authority. Not a single one of you can talk for Māori.

So we will hold this Government to account. And I love that you’re all animated. I love that this Government is animated. Te Pāti Māori will continue to hold you to account for what it is that you promised to do and don’t achieve, and we will make sure our w’anau see that you have done it as well. Kia ora rā.

Point of order. Mr Speaker, I just want clarity. You asked Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, co-leader for Te Pāti Māori, to apologise for using the word “racism”. In actual fact, there’s nothing in the Standing Orders that says that you cannot use the word “racism”. If you call somebody racist, yes, I understand that. But what you’ve asked her to do is apologise for making the statement, and, actually, she was well within her rights to make it.

Mr Waititi, if you want to go back and have a look at the record, you will see that she actually referred to a member on my right specifically as racist. That was why I asked her to apologise.

Point of order, Mr Speaker.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O’Connor): Is this a new point of order?

RAWIRI WAITITI: I’m speaking to the point of order, Mr Speaker.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O’Connor): Well, a new angle.

RAWIRI WAITITI: The new angle is I think you need to go back and watch the video, because she used the word “racism”; she didn’t call that member a racist.

Thank you to that member. And, again, I’ll invite him to look at the record.

It’s a shame to see so many members from the Government who campaigned on pitting so many of our migrant communities against Māori for the breadcrumbs that this Government wants to deliver. They talk about this being about lifting outcomes for everyone, but, make no mistake: they don’t want to do this either. What they want to do is undermine their commitment that they have to Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Te Aka Whai Ora represented an opportunity to move towards that. It represented an opportunity to deliver better health outcomes for everyone by actually supporting Māori to deliver better health outcomes for their own communities by devolving resources and, unlike what several Government members have outlined around this being Wellington bureaucracy, that actually would have enabled devolution of resources at a regional level. It’s so important to push back against the narrative that it’s actually not grounded on the aspirations that Te Aka Whai Ora represented.

This debate failed to address that our health isn’t just pinned down by how many hospitals this Government wants to build; it’s pinned down by this Government’s commitment to the social determinants of health, the wellbeing of our environment. So the Minister may want to look at this Government’s agenda when he talks about better health outcomes, because this is the Government that is driving health outcomes down by lowering benefit increases and by railing against homes being healthy and fit for purpose, and that is continuing to push young people to live under the minimum wage. None of those things actually propels outcomes.

So while we could take the Minister’s words around his commitments to lifting health outcomes, his Government doesn’t want to do any of that. So the Minister—who is just walking out—should really look back at—[Interruption] But I’m literally basically describing that.

Carl Bates: Point of order.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O’Connor): If the comment was that the member is leaving the House, the ruling is about the absence of a member from the House. So, in anticipation of your point of order, Mr Bates, I take it I have anticipated well? If only I was that good on the rugby field. Mr Menéndez March, continue, and we’ll just put the clock back for the time of that.

RICARDO MENÉNDEZ MARCH: Thank you. Again, that reaction from the members is so indicative of their priorities. They get hung up about, for example, whether I almost called out someone as they were walking out, and yet what they should be outraged about is what their Government is doing to health outcomes by disestablishing Te Aka Whai Ora. Let’s be clear: this is a Government that would rather get really worked up over the minutiae of this House rather than actually what we’re doing, which is gutting an entity that would have delivered better health outcomes.

The Minister, once again, when he talked about his commitments to lifting Māori health outcomes, needs to realise who he is swimming alongside. He’s swimming alongside a group of people who campaigned against Māori rights. He’s going to be having to sit at the Cabinet table alongside colleagues who actively campaigned against Māori health outcomes. His words mean nothing when he is not putting safeguards and commitments to resourcing to lift Māori health outcomes, and when he’s having to sit at a Cabinet table with people who were happy to sit with conspiracy theorists who literally rallied against the foundations of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. I don’t care what the Minister’s commitments are because he is part of a Government that is anti improving Māori health outcomes by the nature of undermining Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

As a migrant to Aotearoa, I will not stand by a narrative that promotes white supremacy and that promotes racism because what it does is actually undermines the rights of communities that have already been underserved by successive Governments. Māori health outcomes did not get to this point by just stasis; the state of Māori health outcomes came to this point because of ongoing colonial violence by successive Governments.

Te Aka Whai Ora represented an opportunity to redress some of those, and we needed to not just keep Te Aka Whai Ora; we needed to adequately resource it. This is what the Greens campaigned on. So we join with the cause of our colleagues who we will be fighting alongside to not just restore Te Aka Whai Ora but to adequately resource it so that the aspirations of Te Aka Whai Ora and the communities whom it represents are adequately met, because Te Aka Whai Ora wasn’t an entity that was about bureaucracy; it was about working in an intersectional way to lift so many of our communities and it represented a new way of working across all Government.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I just want to firstly acknowledge all the passion and care from around this House, especially on the Opposition benches. And I thank the members for their contributions, in particular the Hon Peeni Henare, you know, but I would also add that this Government is focused on outcomes and we, like you, want better quality care and we want better outcomes for Māori. We acknowledge that Māori are overrepresented in need, and I know our Minister is very focused on making sure that a service gets out to those areas where there is most need. We will retain the iwi-Māori partnership boards, we want to empower them, we want to work with local communities, and we—as the Minister stated—believe local situations require local solutions. I want to thank the Minister for his dedication to improving health outcomes across New Zealand. I support this bill.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I want to thank the Minister of Health for nothing, actually. I can’t be as generous as my brother Peeni Henare, but I tautoko to our former Minister Peeni for his wonderful mahi.

But this is a shameful, shameful, shameful day for this Government. I remember when this kaupapa came through. The dreams of our people—the entity, the waka, was fulfilling the dreams of our people. Our people always talked about a Māori health authority, and so many of us, so many people, thought it was impossible within the system. But here, through the great work of Andrew Little and Peeni Henare, we were able to shape this within the system, with support from our people on the outside—no doubt about that. I mihi to our people on the outside. I mihi to the Māori Party for their support—to the Green Party. But to have an entity like this within the system was considered absolutely impossible, and so, so many dreams are being smashed today.

But that is the reality of this Government. In just four months, they’ve rammed through anti-worker legislation, anti-Māori legislation, anti-renter legislation, and anti-environmental legislation—

Hon Carmel Sepuloni: And anti-beneficiary.

Hon WILLIE JACKSON: —or pushed through Parliament under urgency, with none of the critical oversight law required. And, as former Minister Carmel Sepuloni says, it’s anti-beneficiary legislation, putting people into poverty.

So this is a shameful, shameful day, particularly for the Māori members, who I notice are not present now, not here at all—at all. [Interruption] No, no, no, no. I’m sorry, but I’m withdrawing Māori membership from those Māori members on the other side—you don’t deserve to be part of what we’re doing. This is a disgraceful bill that your Māori members have rolled out. So shame, particularly on those members, today, and I say that because this is stamping on the mana and the aspirations and the dreams of our people.

I’m not denying our members over there whakapapa Māori—absolutely—but our people are embarrassed by them. They’re embarrassed by their actions. They can get all the support from their Pākehā journalist friends, who think they do wonderful maiden speeches, but they have no standing—no standing—in te ao Māori. Minimal—zero standing. No one even knows who these Māori members are. Who are they? Who are they?

Dr Reti, like Peeni Henare, is someone who I’ve respected through the years, but he has let his whānau down and he has let his whakapapa down today. It’s a shameful, shameful act for someone who should know better—someone who is a good man, but, sadly, is under the pressure of a Government who is intent on removing every right that Māori has.

It doesn’t matter if you’re right wing or left wing; you have to have due process. But this Government is into public health vandalism. That’s what this is all about. National are participating in the public health vandalism because Winston Peters and David Seymour have dragged the Prime Minister all the way to the right—of that there is no doubt.

Hon Member: He’s not reading it.

Hon WILLIE JACKSON: Oh, I don’t have to read. National don’t want any scrutiny of public health vandalism, basically, because they’re cowards—there’s no doubt about it. They have no respect for due process.

Look at what’s going to happen very shortly. We’ve got the smoke-free legislation coming up. There will be 8,000 deaths—8,000 deaths—from dumping smoke-free amendments. That’s what we’re talking about—an extra 8,000 deaths. We’re remodelling the COVID inquiry into an anti-vax circus for Winston’s crazy conspiracy mates. So they’re going down that track—this is what they’re doing—and now we’re ramming through killing off the Māori Health Authority to stop Māori from having their day in court with the Waitangi Tribunal.

The Māori Health Authority gave us the bureaucratic muscle to ensure Māori health outcomes mattered, but this new, reactionary Government has turned the whole debate into a health apartheid narrative. That’s what’s happened here. They’ve turned everything, and it’s all got the narrative around—we heard the stupid ACT member waffling on, whose leader can’t even be bothered turning up: “Oh, this is about need, not race.” Oh, really?

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Maureen Pugh): Willie Jackson, please, you have been here long enough to understand the rules about that referral.

Hon WILLIE JACKSON: Need and race go together, and the reality is that that member has no idea what she’s talking about, as her leader has used the race argument to advance himself and his “Māori party”.

It does worry us that they’re not following democratic processes, because this is what they talk about all the time. It’s an affront to wonderful spokespeople, wonderful advocates whom I spoke about yesterday, like Dr Mason Durie. They don’t have the politics of some of us. Dr Mason Durie, as I said—despite who his son-in-law is—is one of the most apolitical people you could get. You could not get better people than Dr Mason Durie; Dr Rawiri Jansen; Awerangi Tamihere, who was on the Māori Health Authority; Dr Anthony Jordan; Dr Lily Fraser; Tureiti Moxon; Papaarangi Reid—these are our people who have fought the fight, and—

Hon Carmel Sepuloni: And they are experts.

Hon WILLIE JACKSON: They are experts, but the members opposite clearly don’t want to know anything about them.

We have an obligation as a Parliament to pass legislation that helps and enables our people. How does this help our people? That’s what the question is. Dr Reti is talking about devolving, but he is purposely denying the Waitangi Tribunal its opportunity in the most disrespectful way.

It breaks our hearts. Many of these our members here—you’ve heard some of our MPs in tears. I’ve heard Willow-Jean Prime. We’ve heard Hūhana Lyndon. They speak and they cry. They cry because of the lost opportunity. It’s a lost opportunity in terms of our people.

But I tautoko what Willow-Jean has said, what Hūhana has said, and what Debbie Ngarewa-Packer has said when she talked about how we should not tangi, and that is because we live for another day. There will be another day. There will be another day when this useless, pathetic Government has to stand down. It’s a political stunt, and the most ugly of stunts. It’s shameful that on the other side, they don’t see and hear what we say. They don’t hear our experts. They don’t see—you don’t feel the kōrero out there.

So we hear this “Will Māori buy into what’s going now?”—I think that’s probably the next question. Everyone knows that Māori don’t have any options. We have no options; we have to engage with these mongrels. That’s just the reality.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Maureen Pugh): Excuse me.

Hon WILLIE JACKSON: Oh, is that unparliamentary? OK, I apologise for that. But that’s a fact—we have to engage with this lot. Well, where do we go? If we don’t engage, we get nothing, so it’s either nothing or something. So our people will negotiate, they’ll grab the crumbs, and they’ll pick up contracts. We know they’re going to devolve to a few people. We know what the strategy is—we’ve been around a long time—“Oh, we’ll pick out this one. We’ll pick out that one.” Will our people line up? Well, of course our people will line up.

Hon Member: JT will give the member some hours.

Hon WILLIE JACKSON: Oh, you can talk about JT or whatever, but the reality is he’s a pragmatist. The reality is our people are pragmatists. They know that it’s either the crumbs or nothing—it’s either the crumbs or nothing. So I will urge our people to do business with these people on the other side, Madam Speaker. I will urge them to do business, because otherwise there’s no business and our people will continue to die.

I want to finish by again congratulating ourselves on this side for fighting the fight—in particular, our former Ministers Peeni Henare and Willow-Jean Prime really have advocated this kaupapa proudly for us. I’m really proud of their advocacy. I’m proud also of the Labour Party, who supported us all the way through; former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who loved the idea; current leader, Chris Hipkins—“Chippy” is doing such a wonderful job—Carmel Sepuloni, our deputy leader. It’s been a great privilege to have our party backing this, and, as I said earlier, there will be another day—that is what we know. Kia ora, Madam Speaker.

I rise to speak in support of the Pae Ora (Disestablishment of Māori Health Authority) Amendment Bill in its third reading.

I would like to thank all the members who have actually mentioned health outcomes, because that really was the most important thing here. Regardless of organisational form, this remains, and it needs to be addressed to make sure we have better health outcomes for Māori, and also non-Māori.

I thank those people that have mentioned the Māori health providers that are caring both for Māori and non-Māori, which is great and it will continue as we look into the future. We want Māori providers to provide care for non-Māori and for Māori, and we want non-Māori health providers to provide for Māori and non-Māori.

I want to shout out to all our healthcare workers in New Zealand working around the clock to provide the best health outcome to all New Zealanders, which is currently in a very challenging system. I just want to acknowledge that they will use the best tools they have to their advantage to make sure of the best outcomes.

We have aspirin, which we have taken from the Greeks; we have quinine, which we have taken from the Peruvians; and we take the best to make sure our doctors and nurses can provide the best for their patients, regardless of where it’s coming from. Therefore, that’s why I commend this bill to the House.

The next call is a split call.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. The disestablishment of Te Aka Whai Ora, the Māori Health Authority, today returns Māori to disproportionate harm. I want to take a moment to acknowledge all the kaimahi, all of the health practitioners, all of the kaiurungi who have done the hard fight, year in, year out to where we got to establish an independent voice for Māori in the structures of our health system that, we know, wasn’t working for them.

When I return to my marae at Moawhango, I want to go back and tell them that I’ve done better for them by serving in this House. Today, some in this House will have to go back to their marae to tell them that they are returning their whānau back to a system where our people die seven years earlier than their non-Māori counterparts. The blood of their tūpuna will stain their hands for ever.

I wonder if the doctors in this House who have supported the disestablishment of the Māori Health Authority today have abandoned their ethical principles that they were once asked to uphold as medical professionals—to act with integrity and in the best interests of their patients. Just not the Māori ones. How morally bankrupt do you have to become to sell out your own people and communities for a couple of trinkets and baubles of political office and a bit of a campaign clickbait? It should be a timely reminder for all people that it might be our health sovereignty and opportunities they are stealing today. But rest assured, they are coming for yours tomorrow.

Te Aka Whai Ora isn’t bureaucracy, as the Prime Minister so casually regards it to be. It’s a chance for Māori to make meaningful decisions about improving their health outcomes through commissioning the services they need, delivered in a way that they want rather than have the same stale ideas rammed down their throats by the greatest pack of bureaucrats that we have ever seen—the other side of the House.

The establishment of Te Aka Whai Ora included the Waitangi Tribunal’s hauora report, and by God, I am disappointed that we didn’t have the respect to wait two days to hear of that hearing. This is a breach of mana motuhake, the incremental steps that this work has done to achieve better outcomes for Māori, to give Māori a voice, steps towards tino rangatiratanga.

I want to acknowledge those that put the work in to put the hearing in place before the Waitangi Tribunal: Lady Tureiti Moxon, Rawiri Jansen, and all of our Māori health practitioners. Today I salute you for the hard yards that you’ve done, and, by God, we stand with you moving forward.

I want to push back on the non-Māori across the House that take cheap shots at Te Aka Whai Ora and say it didn’t deliver anything. That is false. The strength of Te Aka Whai Ora lies in its independence from the Crown and its ability to provide coordinated and independent Māori-focused advice, policy, advocacy, and commission, and one year in we have seen incremental change. We have seen outcomes—and tell me of a structural shift in this country’s history in Aotearoa New Zealand where we have measured the achievements and results within only 12 months, but we only do this to Māori. It is unfair, it is disgraceful, and every Māori on that side of the House, every member of this Government, should hang their heads in shame. And when you go to your own marae, you tell your whānau that you are disgraceful.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Te Aka Whai Ora—the Māori Health Authority—was never really equipped to undo the health inequities for Māori. Those gaps are huge, and the responsibility lies much further outside the health system. It’s for the entire economy, and it’s for all of our Government to take note of those inequities because we can’t fix them within health alone; it has to be done across the board. So I don’t believe that this change will have any effect other than to get rid of a bureaucracy that wasn’t doing anything.

Those strong Māori health providers will still be working for Māori health, and everybody in the health system will be doing the same. I believe that this change is needed because the only symbolism that I remember was the two waka lashed together—really, those two lashed together. What we had was a ship the size of the Titanic with a dingy attached to the back—that’s the real symbolism. So now we undo this, and I commend the bill to the House.

Kāre te mamae te wāhi ake ne

Ka whakapatu ana te tau o taku ate i

Ki te iwi rā e tahurihia atu rā

Ki raro ki te maru o te Kuīni e i

Hei hāpai mai i te patu a ware

Ki runga ki taku kiri ngārahu e i

Te ngū o taku ihu na i

[The great anguish that cleaves

That assaults the strings of my heart

To the people that turned away

Under the mantle of the Queen

To raise the weapon of the ignorant

Upon my darkened skin

The tattooed scrolls of my nose]

Ka tīmata ake taku kōrero whakamutunga i roto i tēnei Whare i te pānuitanga tuatoru o tēnei pire whakakāhore i Te Aka Whai Ora. I tīmata taku kōrero i tētahi waiata tawhito nā te tupuna a Kawiti. E te Māngai o te Whare, ko ngā kupu kei roto i tērā wāhanga o te waiata ki ngā Māori i huri ki raro i te maru o te Kuīni hei hāpai mai i te patu a ware, taku kiri ngārahu e, te ngū o taku ihu.  

Ko wai rātou hei huri ki te tautoko i te patu i te iwi Māori? He Māori e patu ana i te iwi Māori. Koirā te mahi a tēnei pire kua tau mai nei ki roto i tēnei Whare inanahi, i tēnei rā hoki. Nō reira he waiata tangi tērā, he waiata tangi ki ōku whanaunga e te Māngai o te Whare, nā te mea ko rātou e ārahi ana i tēnei kaupapa hei takahi, takahi i te Tiriti o Waitangi. Takahi, takahi i te iwi Māori. Takahi, takahi i ngā moemoeā, ngā wawata o wō tātou tūpuna, o te nāianei, o te āpōpō hoki. 

Koirā tā rātou mahi i roto i tēnei Whare Pāremata, nō reira e te Māngai o te Whare, i tīmata taku kōrero i te tangi, i te mōteatea o tētahi o ngā tūpuna nāna i haina te Tiriti o Waitangi. Ko tana tohu tuatahi i runga i te Tiriti o Waitangi.  

E te Māngai o te Whare, e mōhio ana tātou katoa, nā te mea i rongo ahau, e mōhio ana te Kāwanatanga ki ngā tatauranga. E ai ki ngā tatauranga mō te hauora, ko te iwi Māori kei raro e putu ana. E ai ki ngā tatauranga, ka mate moata a Ngāi Māori, e whitu tau. 

Nā ko Te Aka Whai Ora tētahi kaupapa kātahi anō ka whakatūria, kātahi anō ka whakatūria. Kāhore i roa ka whakamatea, nā tērā taha. I whakatūria Te Aka Whai Ora i runga i te tono a tētahi rōpū i āta titiro, āta whakaaro i te rangahau, ngā tatauranga kei mua i a rātou; the Health and Disability Commission. Nā rātou te kōrero me whakatū Te Aka Whai Ora. He aha ai? Tērā pea hei rongoa mō ērā tatauranga. 

Āe, e tika ana, ko te Taraipiunara tētahi atu nā rātou te kī, whakatūria tētahi kaupapa Māori i roto i te hauora. Tērā pea hei rongoa mō ērā tatauranga. I mahi kaha mātou i te wā i a mātou i te Kāwanatanga. Kaha. Kei hea taku whanaunga, kei konei. I kite au, i pau tana kaha ki te whakatū i tēnei. E mōhio ana ia tōna kaha i whakapau, tōna hoa rangatira, tana kaha i whakapau mō tēnei kaupapa. 

Nā te mea e mōhio ana mātou ki ngā tatauranga. Ō mātou whanaunga i mate ohorere, i mate whitu tau moata, ko taku pāpā tētahi. Koirā te take i tū ahau inanahi, i tangi ahau, nā te mea e mōhio ana ahau ki ngā tatauranga kei roto i tōku whare, kei roto i tōna whare. Ko tana pāpā tētahi. Ko te matua e takoto ana ki te marae o Ngāti Manu tētahi. Ko tēnei kaupapa o Te Aka Whai Ora tētahi kaupapa hei rongoa pea mō ērā tatauranga e mōhiotia whānuitia.

Engari e te Māngai o te Whare, te Minita hou, hei ko tāna tekau mā waru marama kua pahure, horekau he kōrero pai i puta mai i tēnei nō reira me whakamate. E kī, e ki! I noho ahau ki te whakarongo ki wāna kōrero, he aha tana rautaki? He aha te mahere? Kahore ahau i paku rongo i tētahi mea i puta mai i tana waha he pai ake i Te Aka Whai Ora.  

Me mōhio tēnei Whare, kahore te Minita i kōrero ki te iwi Māori e pā ana ki tēnei. Kahore ia i haere ki te noho tahi, kōrero tahi ki ōna hoa Tiriti, kahore. Tau mai tēnei pire, ohorere, ka pahure ā muri ake nei. Kahore ia i tatari kia noho te Taraipiunara ki te whakarongo ki ngā kerēme a ngā whanaunga o te Minita. I kī ahau ko tētahi o ngā kaikerēme ko tana hapū, o Te Kapotai. E mōhio ana ahau e haere mai ana ngā kaikōrero o Te Taitokerau ki te waha i ngā kōrero e whakahē ana i wana mahi whakakāhore, whakakore i Te Aka Whaiora. 

I mōhio ia kei te haere tērā nohoanga o te Taraipiunara. Engari e te Māngai o te Whare, kīhai ia i paku whakaaro ki tērā. Ka tū tēnei pire i tēnei rā, nō reira kua whakakorengia tērā nohoanga o te Taraipiunara. I kī ahau i roto i taku kōrero, he aha te take i tino ohorere tēnei mahi, tino tere tēnei mahi? Nā te mea ka tīmata ā te mutunga o Hune. Ko tāku e whakapono ana he haukoti i te mana o te Taraipiunara, hei haukoti i ōna whanaunga i haere mai ki te whakahē i āna mahi. 

E te Māngai o te Whare, e tautoko ana ahau i ngā kōrero ki ngā kaimahi o Te Aka Whai Ora, ki ngā kaimahi Māori i roto i te hauora. E tika ana ngā kōrero: tai timu; tai pari. Ka hoki anō tātou ki tēnei kaupapa ā tōna wā ki te whakatika, ki te whakatika i ngā hē i mahia i roto i tēnei Whare i tēnei rā. E tika ana te kōrero, nā tēnei Kāwanatanga e hoki muri ana tātou. Hoki muri. Hoki muri ki wērā tatauranga kino rawa atu.

E te Māngai o te Whare, ka mutu aku kōrero i tētahi rerenga i roto i te waiata nā te mea, te nui o ngā kōrero kua whakapā mai ki ahau inapō, i tēnei rā hoki, ka whawhai tonu tātou, mātou, āke āke āke. I roto i te waiata, “e kore au e mutu te tū ki te pakanga e i, kia kai rā anō i te rerehua o te pō i”.

[My final speech in this House in the third reading of this bill that disestablishes the Māori Health Authority has begun. My speech began with an ancient song composed by the ancestor Kawiti. The words within that excerpt of the song are to the Māori people that turned coat under the mantle of the Queen to raise the weapon of the ignorant, my darkened skin, the tattooed scrolls of my nose.

Who are they to turn and support the assault upon the Māori people? It is Māori assaulting the Māori people. That is the action of this bill that has come into this House yesterday, and today too. So that is a song of lament, a song of lament to my relations, because it is them that are leading this initiative to trample, trample on the Treaty of Waitangi. Trample, trample on the Māori people. Trample, trample on the dreams, the aspirations of our ancestors, of today, and of tomorrow also.

That is what they are doing in this Parliament House, and so I began my speech with a lament, a song of grief of one of the ancestors who signed the Treaty of Waitangi. His was the first mark made on the Treaty of Waitangi. 

We all know, because I have heard, that the Government is aware of the statistics. According to the statistics for health, it is the Māori people that are at the bottom out on their backs. According to the statistics, the Māori people are dying earlier, seven years.

Now, the Māori Health Authority is an initiative that has only recently been established. And before long it is killed off, by that side. The Māori Health Authority was established on the request of a group that carefully examined and carefully considered the research and the statistics in front of them, the Health and Disability Commission. It was the commission who said the Māori Health Authority should be established. Why? As a possible solution for those statistics.

Yes, it is true, the tribunal is another that said to establish a Māori initiative within the health sector. as a possible solution for those statistics. We worked hard at the time that we were in Government. Hard. Where is my relation? Here he is. I saw that his strength was expended to establish this. He knows the extent to which his strength was expended and his partner’s strength was expended for this initiative.

Because we are aware of the statistics. Our relations that passed away suddenly, that died seven years early—my father is one of them. That is the reason I cried when I stood yesterday—because I know the statistics are in my home; they are in his home. His father is another. The patriarch that lies in state on the marae of Ngāti Manu is another. This initiative of the Māori Health Authority is an initiative that could be a solution to those statistics that are widely known.

According to the new Minister, in the last 18 months that have passed there has been no good news emerge from this, and because of that it should be killed off. Is that right? I sat and listened to his comments; what is his strategy? What is the plan? I didn’t hear at all a single thing come out of his mouth that is better than the Māori Health Authority.

This House should know that the Minister didn’t speak to the Māori people about this. He didn’t go to sit with, and to discuss with, his Treaty partners, not at all. This bill arrived, a surprise, and will shortly be passed. He didn’t wait for the tribunal to sit and listen to the claims of the relations of the Minister. I said that one of the claimants is his hapū, Te Kapotai. I know that the speakers of Northland are coming to give voice to the opinions that are in opposition to his disestablishing actions, disestablishing the Māori Health Authority.

He knew that that sitting of the tribunal was ongoing. But he didn’t consider that at all. This bill will stand this day, so that sitting of the tribunal has been cancelled. I said in my speech: what is the reason for the extreme urgency of this work, the extreme pace of this work? Because it begins at the end of June. What I believe is that this is a preclusion of the authority of the tribunal, to cut off his relations that came to oppose his actions.

I support the comments made to the staff of the Māori Health Authority, to the Māori staff within the health sector. The comments are true: as the tide goes out, it will come in again. We will return to this initiative at an appropriate time to correct the mistakes made in this House today. The statement is true: because of this Government, we are going backwards. Going backwards. Going back to those ever so dire statistics.

My comments will conclude with a line in the song, because of the sheer volume of messages that I received last night, and today also. We will continue to fight, well we will, for ever and ever. In the song, “Never to end the stand to fight, until I consume the beauty of the night.”]

During the select committee stage, a member from the opposite side was talking on behalf of the first generation of immigrants. As an elected MP for Mt Roskill, the electorate consists of more than 100 ethnicities and a large population of migrants, I can tell you—

Steve Abel: Point of order. Just for the clarity of the record, Madam Speaker, the member said that there was a select committee stage, and it should be clear that there was no select committee stage.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Maureen Pugh): I thank the member. Carry on.

Dr CARLOS CHEUNG: Anyway, as an elected MP for Mt Roskill, the electorate consists of more than 100 ethnicities and a large population of migrants, and I can tell you that people in Mt Roskill, people in New Zealand, want a fair health system they can rely on.

I agree with the member of the opposite side that our healthcare system is broken because under previous Government, our healthcare system was delivered based on race, not needs. This led to a number of health outcomes continuing to go backwards, including the emergency department waiting times hitting the highest level in a decade. We definitely need change, and this Government is committed to bring our health system back on track: a health system that can deliver service on needs not race, and a health system that can benefit both Māori and non-Māori. I commend this bill to the House.