28-05-2025
Mainstream health system failing Māori, Waitangi Tribunal told
Deputy Director-General of Māori Health John Whaanga.
Photo:
RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
The Waitangi Tribunal has been told the health system is failing Māori with one woman detailing how her son has been let down multiple times.
Te Aka Whai Ora, the Māori Health Authority, was set up in 2022 but the government scrapped it last year and the Tribunal is scrutinising the decision as well as asking what the plan is now for improving Māori health.
The second part of the Tribunal's inquiry into the disestablishment of Te Aka Whai Ora has been running since the start of the week.
Maia Honetana from Ngāti Tu ki Tai Tokerau told the Tribunal on Monday multiple government agencies failed to help her son Akira, who suffers from Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and ADHD.
Honetana said instead of helping him they blamed her and her family for his condition, resulting in a poor education and a one-way ticket to prison.
A dedicated Māori Health Authority when her son was young have made all the difference, she said, and she was furious the young agency was scrapped.
"I find it really appalling that this government could even think about striking us out and putting us at the bottom, just because they want to.
"Just because they somehow have this power to just do that, to scrap it whenever they feel like it."
The mainstream health system had not worked for her whānau, Honetana said.
"I know that I'm not alone, I'm one of many.
"My case should be unique, it shouldn't just be one of many Māori that have suffered the consequences of not having a Māori-based health system or Māori Authority to basically look after us and take care of our needs."
Deputy Director General of Health Māori John Whaanga provided evidence on behalf of the Crown and when asked by the Tribunal what exactly will replace Te Aka Whai Ora, defended the government's ongoing approach to improving Māori health.
"Your point is that there is nothing new since the disestablishment of Te Aka Whai Ora. I'm responding by saying that I don't quite understand that question.
"We continue to work on a stratergy for government on Māori health, which we would have been doing with Te Aka Whai Ora, the Māori Health Authority if they were still in place." Whaanga said.
Whaanga and Crown lawyers could not give the exact details on what the government has planned for improving Māori Health, but evidence submitted to the Tribunal shows the role Iwi Māori Partnership Boards (IMPB) have in developing and actioning Māori health policy.
Moe Milne from Ngāti Hine told the Tribunal the short-lived health authority made progress connecting small Maori providers with the government.
"It wasn't 'happy families' with Te Aka Whau Ora but they went out of their way to not only come once for a consultation, they came several times to check, ring - we did several Zooms.
"What we lost was the discussion about what should happen next, that's the biggest loss." Milne said.
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