October 05, 2023
Axing Māori authority would waste spending
Former Health New Zealand chair Rob Campbell says National’s promise to do away with the Māori Health Authority Te Aka Whai Ora will cost the economy about a billion dollars a year.
That’s the cost of the gap in health outcomes between Māori and non-Māori adults.
He says the policy pushed by both National and ACT is based on a combination of ignorance and racism.
“This is not some sort of new invention. It emerged out of a lot of consideration amongst Maori and amongst other health experts as to what would be the best answer and part of the ignorance that frustrates me is that there is a whole structure behind this. This is integrated with the fantastic work Whanau Ora has been doing since it was created and there is a close relationship between the work of Whanau Ora and Te Aka Whai Ora,” he says.
Mr Campbell says removing Te Aka Wahi Ora would cripple the iwi partnership boards, which National has said it will keep, and remove the mechanism for whether Te Whatu Ora for making progress on Maori health outcomes.