June 14, 2022
Reti despairs at Māori Health Authority set-up
National has promised to scrap the Māori Health Authority if it becomes Government, but its health spokesperson says he doesn’t want the new authority to fail.
Shane Reti says it needs to be given every opportunity to succeed, but Labour’s changes to the Pae Oranga Bill as it was going through Parliament means that is less likely to happen.
“There are a number of signals this is being set up to fail and my despairing concern is that if that happens it will set back any future Māori health and Māori initiatives for decades because policymakers will look back and say ‘remember when Labour brought in the Māori Health Authority in 2022, how did that go for you? We’re not doing this,'” he says.
Dr Reti says National would fold the Māori authority into Health New Zealand.