Waipiro hui challenge to mainstream outlets

©On File

A south Auckland Māori warden says Māori must be given a say over whether more liquor outlets are opened in their communities.

Dave Ratu is one of the speakers at a Waipiro Symposium being held at the Countries Manukau DHB lecture theatre in Middlemore Hospital.

He says the Health Ministry and mainstream agencies have been unable to respond to the damage alcohol causes Māori communities.

"Alcohol is the manifestation of a whole lot of stuff that our people feel – colonisation, the near decimation of our language, the loss of our land, all those sorts of things. Māori in a lot of cases drink to bury the pain. Do mainstream providers know how to deal with that? The answer is no," Mr Ratu says.

He says the answer lies in giving Maori the power to drive their own solutions and control their environment

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