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Download AudioFormer New Zealand First MP Shane Jones says the new Māori Health Authority needs to drop political rhetoric and focus of finding ways to improve Māori health outcomes if it is to survive past the election.
He says it’s unrealistic to expect the authority to deliver quick results, as it will take time to staff up and find its feet.
But it needs to step away from the identity politics and ideology that have marked its launch.
“We want to know how will this authority in our regions or indeed in any hospital lead to better outcomes. I don’t want anyone in public telling me what its Māori name is. I don’t want anyone telling me about Tane, about Mareikura, about whatukura. Often when ideology and Māori political speak loom large, it’s designed to disguise an absence of content,” Mr Jones says.
He says we know the problems with Māori health, and what is needed is the rapid assembling of resources and a new way of approaching those problems.
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