DebbieDebb Ngarewa-Packer A message for David Seymour
From day one of every single Covid outbreak including this Delta variant lockdown, Ma¯ori hauora (health) and Wha¯nau Ora providers like Te Wha¯nau O Waipareira have stepped up to do their bit and help protect the team of five million.
Dressed in full PPE they have stood on the frontline from dusk to beyond dawn, in storms and in rain, testing and vaccinating large queues in West Auckland.
Their manaaki, assisted by Ma¯ori wardens and personnel providing kai and fluids, to the communications teams and administrators, has been a fabulous show of solidarity. Each hauora provider sharing their activities on social media, while uplifting the spirits of communities anxiously awaiting the 1pm update. For many, this was the only human contact they were having outside of their bubble. For many, it was the only glimpse of hope wha¯nau had that our lives would soon return to normal.
There were early signs of inequities in the Covid-19 vaccination rollout. Health specialists like Dr Rawiri McKee Jensen, co-chairman of Te Ro¯pu¯ Whakakaupapa Uruta¯ – the National Ma¯ori Pandemic Group – considered the Government’s oneshoe-fits-all vaccine rollout an “overwhelming failure”. This failure is today resulting in just 19 per cent of eligible Ma¯ori vaccinated by the end of Tuesday, compared with 30.4 per cent of eligible people in the “European or other” category.
This is where David Seymour made a conscious decision to sabotage. He not only underestimated the manaaki our Ma¯ori hauora providers have for everyone in their communities, but also the solutions to address vaccination disparity and the success that came with it.
The very centre he launched a fullscale attack at had a vaccination uptake of 85 per cent Pa¯keha¯, vaccinating five times less Ma¯ori than non. His poor understanding that a Ma¯ori-targeted-approach is not antiPa¯keha¯, exclusive or segregated shows his absolute desperation to compete for the “disillusioned white” voter. He launched a political missile that fast became a political SOS.
I am 12 months out of leading a Covid response and standing up iwi checkpoints. I appreciate how much effort logistically and mentally goes into leading a response effort. It takes a team prepared to work outside of normal hours to serve their community with a passion.
Our pa¯ti, with many other leaders, continually raised concern with how poor vaccination uptake was for Ma¯ori. With a third of our population living in poverty and a third underemployed, the luxury of fuelling a car to travel five hours for vaccination versus putting food on the table was not an option. I live in a community where many don’t own smartphones or have data access to book vaccinations, some can’t afford to travel over an hour to their closest urban medical facilities.
Access issues for many wha¯nau are real, as are inequities. But the reality is Seymour’s neighbourhood is vastly different to those he attacked. He is privileged, and rather than empathise to understand some very real-life challenges, he instead chose to appeal to the fascist New Zealander, to the wealthy who have