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March 10, 2025
Davidson Slams Bowel Screening Changes as Racist
Atereano Mateariki
Posted On March 10, 2025
Download AudioMarama Davidson, the Greens co-leader, has condemned the changes to the bowel screening program as institutional racism, warning they risk Māori lives to cancer.
Last week, Health Minister Simeon Brown announced that the minimum age for free bowel screening would drop to 58 from 60 for all New Zealanders.
In contrast, Māori and Pasifika-targeted programs that lowered the minimum age to 50 across participating districts would be stopped.
She says the changes undermine a program designed to address health inequity, shifting focus to save more non-Māori and non-Pasifika lives instead.
“You know, those aren’t his words, but that is the impact of this policy, and he’s cheering about it. And we all need to see very clearly that this is taking away from the work to bring Māori and Pacifica lives up to the same level of importance, and instead pulling that resource away and putting it back into a general population program. That is absolute racism,” says Davidson.
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