Little denies ‘plan’ on Ma¯ori health
Health Minister Andrew Little says he decided to create a Ma¯ ori Health Authority without reading a report National leader Judith Collins claims was the secret inspiration for it.
Collins has said there is ‘‘obviously a plan’’ from the Government to enact the recommendations of the 2019 He Puapua report, which suggested sweeping consti- tutional changes for New Zealand by 2040, including new Ma¯ori co-governance institutions such as a Ma¯ ori Parliament.
She suggested in a speech to members on Saturday that this ‘‘divisive government document’’ was already being enacted, and yesterday pointed to changes with Ma¯ ori wards and the introduction of the Ma¯ori Health Authority as evidence that ‘‘there is actually an implementation plan proceeding‘‘.
But Little said he had not even read the report, which hadn’t gone to Cabinet, before making the decision on the Ma¯ ori Health Authority.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has sought to emphasise that the report was commissioned to follow up on a commitment made by the previous National Government at the UN on the rights of indigenous people – and that it hasn’t gone to Cabinet.
‘‘Ultimately we have an obligation after the fact that New Zealand was signed up to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2010. In 2014 there was an agreement that there’d then be concrete action around implementation,’’ Ardern said.
‘‘It has not gone before Cabinet and does not necessarily represent the views of Cabinet.
‘‘But we do have an obligation to look at ‘what does implementing this declaration mean for New Zealand’ – and we’ll undertake that process very openly.’’
When asked in Parliament last month, Ardern said she had no plan to introduce any kind of Ma¯ ori Parliament, and now says she has ‘‘ruled out’’ that idea.
Collins has attacked the proposed Ma¯ ori Health Authority over its potential power to veto wider health decisions.
‘‘The proposed Ma¯ ori Health Authority will not only have the ability to commission its own work but also the ability to veto decisions made by the Government on general health.’’
Little did not deny this claim, instead saying that under the ‘‘partnership model’’ there would have to be ‘‘agreement’’ – but said everyone in the health system would want what was best for all New Zealanders.
He pointed to huge health inequities – Ma¯ori life expectancy is about seven years shorter than non-Ma¯ ori – and partnership obligations under the Treaty of Waitangi.
Collins said yesterday that the Government had introduced the Ma¯ori Health Authority without campaigning on the issue, but it was in fact mentioned in Labour’s election manifesto.