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Download AudioFormer Health New Zealand chair Rob Campbell says the outlook for Māori health service is dire.
He says the health system is facing multiple crises, but most of what was in the Budget for health were announceables – thing that were happening anyway in normal business but which can be packaged up to make the minister look like he was doing something.
There was no clear replacement for the Maori Health Authority, which has been folded back into Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora.
He says while Te Aka Whai Ora was a half-hearted attempt to address issues raised in the Waitangi Tribunal’s Wai 2575 heath services report, it was at least a place to start.
“That’s now disappeared. Why would anybody think that absorbing that effort on Maori health back into a big bureaucracy that was already failing in Te Whatu Ora, why would anybody think that would improve Maori health? Frankly I don’t think anyone did believe that. I think it was done for other reasons and means that Maori health services will go backwards despite the enormous efforts being put in by kaimahi on the ground,” Mr Campbell says
He says while it’s not true of everyone in the coalition, there is a racist element which is pursuing policies which are anti-Maori and anti-working class people in general.
He says you can’t improve health services if the people you want to appeal to politically are those who want tax cuts.,
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