Rightwing ministers are waging a campaign to erase Māori health equity by tearing out its very foundations. ACT’s Todd Stephenson dismisses Treatybased nursing standards as “offtrack distractions” and insists nurses only need “skill and a kind heart,” despite clear evidence that cultural competence saves lives.

Health Minister Simeon Brown’s funding cuts, hiring freeze and “rightsizing” of hospitals have gutted kaiāwhina and other vital support roles that communities rely on. It’s indefensible to scrap proven Whānau Ora initiatives, like the Winter Preparedness vaccination programme while underperforming mainstream services such as Plunket continue.

Rather than bolster Whānau Ora’s decadeproven model, that serviced at least 4 million whānau, Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka defended re-tendering that puts hundreds of community jobs, and hard work they did on the chopping block.

“By pretending colonisation never happened and framing equity as separatism, this government is abandoning its Treaty obligations and sacrificing our whānau and the future of Māori,” said Te Pāti Māori Coleader and Health spokesperson Debbie NgarewaPacker, “we will not stand by as essential safeguards are stripped away.”

The Government must stop weaponising culture-war rhetoric against Māori and stop hiding behind the fact that they have no solutions to offer to the ongoing causes of inequity in Aotearoa.

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