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September 27, 2021
Pūtea critical for Māori Health Authority
Adam Gifford
Posted On September 27, 2021
Download AudioShow us the money.
That’s the response of former cabinet minister Sandra Lee to the appointment of members to the Māori Health Authority.
The authority is supposed to define its role and then wrestle with the new entity Health New Zealand for a share of the $20 billion health budget, with the presumption being there will be money freed up by scrapping district health boards.
Ms Lee says health and especially Māori health was already underfunded, and restructuring the delivery systems won’t fix that.
“It doesn’t matter whether it’s education, te reo Māori or anything else, it’s all very well to devolve, but if you devolve without addressing the economic problems then whoever actually ends up on these new entities will be between a rock and a hard place, and that is my concern,” she says.
Ms Lee says even though the politicians say all parts of the system need to address Māori health inequities, she fears once the new structure is up and running it will be left to the Māori Health Authority to shoulder the blame.
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