Crown failed to follow process in Māori Health Authority disestablishment: Waitangi Tribunal

The Waitangi Tribunal has found the Crown failed to conduct a robust policy process and follow its own guidelines for developing policy when it disestablished Te Aka Whai Ora, the Māori Health Authority.

In the first part of the Hautupua: Te Aka Whai Ora (Māori Health Authority) Priority Report released today, the Tribunal found the Crown prejudiced Māori by not engaging with them at all when scrapping the heath body, and not yet informing them about it's replacement.

That's despite knowledge of grave Māori health inequities, the Tribunal said.

Speaking to Midday Report, lead claimaint Janice Kuka said the report confirmed everything claimants had been telling the Tribunal for past few years.

From Kuka's perspective, one of the key issues raised was the lack of any consultation with Māori and the government failing to follow its own guidelines for policy development.

"We were never consulted as claimants, our people were never even entered into any kind of discussion."

Kuka said the move to scrap Te Aka Whai Ora within 100 days of the Coalition government's term was politically motivated.

"To me, it's a racist piece of policy being fronted by Māori, two Māori men - Dr Shane Reti and David Seymour. They fronted this racist piece of policy that puts our people back years."

"It serves no purpose, it doesn't address Māori health... to me it is a policy that had other agendas," she said.

Lady Tureiti Moxon, another of the lead claimants in the inquiry, said Te Aka Whai Ora initially came out of the Waitangi Tribunal's Health Services and Outcomes Report.

It was a courageous decision for the government of the time to set up a partnership with Māori, she said.

"From our perspective, those of us who were in hauora land out in the wilderness, it was great to have a central body that actually understood our needs, it was in our communities and was able to design contracts and programmes that suited us to be able to do the kinds of work that was really needed in terms of bringing down those inequities."

A plan to address Māori health inequities is still desperately needed, Moxon said.

"The promises of 'we'll do something better', but then there's nothing better, [the government] haven't got anything better and they never had anything better when decided to disestablish Te Aka Whai Ora."

Te Aka Whai Ora was about Māori rights, she said, not race.

"This is not about race, it was never about race, it was about rights. Our right to live as Māori, be Māori and do for ourselves in our own way."

The Tribunal recommends the Crown:

• Commit to revisiting the option of a stand-alone Māori health authority.
• Consult extensively with Māori in the development of any alternative plans.
• Always undertakes proper regulatory impact analysis in matters that affect Māori health.

In February, the government introduced the Pae Ora (Disestablishment of Māori Health Authority) Amendment Bill - just two days before the Waitangi Tribunal's hearing on the issue was due to start.

Once the bill became law in March, the Tribunal inquired into claims about the disestablishment process and its impacts.

At the time, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti said the bill was part of the government's 100-day commitment and was well canvassed throughout the National Party's campaign.

"While the particular version of the dream that the Māori Health Authority laid out is coming to an end today, I want to paint a different dream, one that will be outcomes driven, providing greater devolved decision-making that will deliver care as close to the home and the hapū as possible," he said.

The decision to scrap the authority generated fierce backlash from claimants and doctors, more than 700 of whom signed an open letter demanding more detail on what would replace it.

In mid-November, the tribunal took the rare step of directing the government to release eight unredacted documents showing its reasoning for disestablishing Te Aka Whai Ora.

The report released today addressed claims concerning the process the Crown followed in disestablishing Te Aka Whai Ora, as well as the impacts of that decision.

The second part would inquire into the Crown's alternative plans for Māori health and was likely to be released in 2025.

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