June 22, 2023
Davidson calls out “racist” question line
Greens co-leader Marama Davidson is unapologetic about for calling out David Seymour for what she saw as racism.
Ms Davidson was sent out of the House yesterday when she challenged a line of questioning by the ACT leader and his MPs about whether they would be considered Māori by Te Whatu Ora’s equity adjustor tool for drawing up surgery waiting lists.
She says ACT was making a racist attack on a sincere attempt to address long-standing discrimination in health against Māori and Pasifika.
“What ACT are doing, the way they are pitting groups of people against Māori, gets in the way of doing of doing that work, of resolving a long problem that needs to be corrected. Rather than let that go unanswered, rather than just let the tenor of those questions being asked, it was really important for me to be clear about the harm those questions werre doing,” Ms Davidson says.
The equity tool also addresses disparity in health care for people in rural areas and in areas of high deprivation.