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March 04, 2025
Henare warns of Whānau Ora leaving Māori hands
Claudette Hauiti
Posted On March 4, 2025
Download AudioFormer Labour Minister for Whānau Ora Peeni Henare says services could end up in the hands of large, foreign-owned, non-Māori organisations.
Te Puni Kokiri is due to announce the shortlist of those who tendered for the tīkanga Māori hauora services this week.
Henare says the coalition government’s track record of awarding contracts to international companies risks causing major harm to te ao Māori.
“My caution here is what we’ve seen this government do to the health sector: take money away and put it into bigger groups, bigger organisations generally foreign, generally Pākehā. What does that mean for the kaupapa? Is the government signalling to Māori that it’s ok for the Salvation Army to run the Whānau Ora commissioning? If that’s the case, then I think that’s a real big problem for our people and our network providers,” says Henare.
The new Whānau Ora Commissioning services will be in place with the selected Commissioning Agencies from 1 July 2025.
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