February 29, 2024
Critics blinded by privilege says Peters
New Zealand First Leader and Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters says getting rid of the Māori Health Authority Te Aka Whai Ora is the right thing to do.
There has been widespread condemnation from Maori, health bodies and unions of the disestablishment legislation pushed through parliament yesterday under urgency.
Mr Peters says reviews of Te Aka Whai Ora showed it wasn’t producing the promised outcomes.
“This idea you could take all this money and throw it at a group of people and they’ll deliver when the outcomes were actually disastrous is just so wrong. I hear these people making these statements and they are always in a position of enormous privilege but they’re not out there in the villages and hamlets and the streets of this country where ordinary Maori people in particular or for that matter Pasifika or other people of New Zealand are looking for decent healthcare and colour doesn’t matter – delivery does,” he says.
Te Aka Whai Ora took over $500 million in contracts and programmes, which must now be transferred back to Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora to manage.