October 19, 2023
Up to Māori to fight for Te Aka Whai Ora
Former Health Minister Andrew Little says it’s up to Māori now to fight for the Māori Health Authority.
Prime Minister elect Chris Luxon has confirmed National’s policy to scrap Te Aka Whai Ora.
Mr Little, who this week announced his retirement from politics, says in creating the authority to work alongside the mainstream health system, he and associate minister Peeni Henare followed the recommendations of the Waitangi Tribunal’s kaupapa inquiry into health rather than the Government’s own health services review.
“We made the decision. It’s now in place. It will now be for Māori, if they want a Māori Health Authority, they are going to have to take that fight to the new Government,” he says.
The Waitangi Tribunal recommended the Crown explore the possibility of a Māori health authority, quantify the underfunding of Māori primary health services since 2000 and review and re-design partnership arrangements across all levels of the primary health sector.