April 27, 2023
Rongoā caught in legislative net
Green MP Elizabeth Kerekere says rongoā Maori needs to be explicitly excluded from the Therapeutic Products Bill.
Critics including legal scholar Jane Kelsey say the bill currently before the health select committee would create a new regime that determines what can be in rongoā Māori, who can make and administer it, who can use rongoā, and how its benefits can be described.
Dr Kerekere says many Māori have come to the select committee to voice their concerns about traditional medicine.
“The overwhelming call is for it to be explicitly excluded and just to really make the point it is not the role of legislation to determine what matauranga Maori is and to control use of rongoa on the ground. That is pure tino rangatiratanga for our practitioners,” she says.