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RNZ News
08-07-2025
- Health
- RNZ News
Anti-red tape bill a health risk, doctors say
Bill architect David Seymour insists it is about ensuring rules are actually justified and calls critics are "woefully misinformed". Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour insists his bill - the party's fourth attempt to get similar legislation passed - is about ensuring rules are actually justified and calls critics are "woefully misinformed". Hokianga farmer Tokowhati Piripi finally had his long-awaited heart surgery two weeks ago at Auckland City Hospital. He actually needed a second operation within 24 hours after a sudden life-threatening bleed, but is now recovering well. Teina Piripi, who once feared her husband would die on the waiting list, said the care he had received had been "incredible" - but the outcome for the vast majority of Māori was not so good. "There is no way of explaining why Māori receiving cardiac care survive 50 percent less than non Māori." Teina Piripi - who works as a Kaiāwhina (Māori health support worker) in Northland - said the problem with the Regulatory Standards Bill was that it claimed everyone was "equal under the law", but that was not supported by the facts. "All those laws were used to dispossess us and disenfranchise us from our land, from our ways of life, from our language. "They know this. So it is not equitable, and we don't receive equal care for our health and well-being, otherwise we wouldn't die seven years earlier than everyone else." The 2023 coalition agreement between ACT, National and New Zealand First included a pledge to pass a Regulatory Standards Act "as soon as practical" - but when passed, the bill will not be binding. It lays out a set of principles which law-makers, ministries and agencies must consider when looking at changes to regulation: people's freedom of choice and private property rights should not be unduly affected and there should be fair compensation. The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists - which represents the 6500 senior doctors and dentists working in public hospitals - was one of scores of health organisations, which made submissions against the bill. Senior policy and research advisor Virginia Mills said the RSB was about upholding individual rights - but that would not lead to equitable outcomes, especially in health and particularly for Māori. "It includes this formal principle that 'everyone is equal under the law', which on the surface sounds okay, but is actually quite a loaded principle because when it comes to health. "People have got different needs and require different treatments, and we know that treating everyone the same won't lead to the same outcomes." The RSB also saw regulation as "a negative hindrance" - red tape that needed cutting, she said. "But if you were to deregulate the health workforce for example, that could mean lowering the standard of education or experience or skills to do the job, which could lead directly to patient harm." Seymour - who is also associate health minister - said the RSB's aim was not deregulation. "These comments are woefully misinformed. "The bill does not have an emphasis on deregulation, so that is a false assumption from the get go. "The bill does have an emphasis on transparency and justification when rules are made." The proposed new law would have a Regulatory Standards Board to consider how legislation measures up to its principles, with members appointed by the Minister for Regulation - currently Seymour. Psychiatrist Giles Newton-Howes said he and his colleagues had major concerns about what such transparency meant for health services. "Who makes the decisions about what regulations are appropriate or not and how that is measured? "And if that is done in economic terms, we're fundamentally missing the point. "You're trying to monetise health, and you can't do that." In its submission on the RSB, the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists said it was dangerous to allow two people (the Regulatory Standards Minister and the Attorney-General) to decide whether wider consultation was needed. "Without legislative expectation to consult with those who hold the most experience in particular spaces, such as psychiatry, we expose ourselves to the mercy of ministerial appointments and ideological frameworks that may not reflect evidence based best practice in health." The submission also noted a "one size fits all model" did not work in complex spaces, such as health and addiction, especially for those who were "persistently harmed by unconscious bias, systemic racism, and social drivers of intergenerational trauma". Newton-Howes said if New Zealanders were truly "equal under the law" in terms of health outcomes, some groups should be receiving more resources than they were. "You can pretty much name any objective you like and we're not [equal under the law], because we're under-serving people in poverty, people in rural areas, Māori and Pacific people, and particularly for mental health." Nurses Organisation chief executive Paul Goulter feared the bill would open the door to further privatisation of healthcare because it favoured business interests. "You get a tension between that collective right to a quality public health system and the private property owning rights. "And this bill takes you into the private property owning rights having dominance over the collective right to a quality public health system." Public health and legal experts have also warned of a potential "chilling effect" on public health measures . They point out that under the bill's "takings or impairment principle", it would allow commercial interests (such as the tobacco and alcohol industries or big polluters), to seek compensation from taxpayers if future legislation caused them to lose money. Seymour has denied the legislation could be weaponised by business interests. "The bill does not anywhere mention, preserving the right to make a profit, so such an objection could never be raised. I would be very happy to sit down with these people and address their concerns, because it appears to me that they have not properly understood the bill before criticising it." The RSB made it clear it created no new legal rights or obligations enforceable through the courts. Furthermore, there was provision under the bill to "constrain" someone's liberties in order to secure the same liberty for others, Seymour said. "That is how you would justify a restriction on polluting the air or water that other people breathe or swim, for example. "If people feel their proposals will not withstand scrutiny, the answer is not to oppose scrutiny but come up with better proposals." However, leading medical oncologist Associate Professor George Laking, Māori Clinical Director at Auckland University's Centre for Cancer Research, remained sceptical. "If you look at the history of environmental catastrophes around the world, they're all carried by people who don't have power to affect the political process, and those are the ones who end up with trash and pollution and the knock on health effects of that. "So sure, there may be provision to deal with pollution under the RSB, but it's much more likely to be dealt with if it irritates someone who's wealthy." There was a risk the "broad brush" legislation with its narrow focus on economic measures could be used - for instance - to change Pharmac's current remit of focusing on patient outcomes, he said. "Of course efficiency is important but what I object to is this elevation of efficiency as the 'be all and end all'. It's not as simple as that." He was disturbed by Seymour's tongue-in-cheek remarks following a speech to the Adam Smith Institute in London last month, in which he credited smokers with saving governmental balance sheets by paying lots of excise tax and not claiming a pension. "This Minister's clearly not interested in health outcomes if he's going to jokingly refer to people who smoke as so-called 'fiscal heroes'. He's much more interested in fiscal outcomes than health outcomes." Parliament's Finance and Expenditure Select Committee is meeting all this week to hear submissions and is due to report back in November. Meanwhile, Teina Piripi was looking forward to taking her husband home to Northland ahead of the birth of their new mokopuna next month. Several times a day, while visiting him at Auckland City Hospital, she has walked past a plaque commemorating the fact the land for it was donated by Ngāti Whātua chief Āpihai Te Kawau in 1847. "Most of our hospitals in this country are built on Māori land - and why? "It's because Māori care about people. It's innate to our understanding. "This bill denies history and the present and the breaches and inequities that come from denying that racism exists." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
28-06-2025
- Health
- RNZ News
Tā Māui Pōmare day: Sir Richard Faull pays heed to Māori health pioneers
Peter Buck (Te Rangi Hiroa), Apirana Ngata, and Maui Pomare at Avondale camp on 20 October, 1914. Photo: public domain Cars lined the streets leading to Ōwae Marae in Waitara on Saturday to celebrate Tā Māui Pōmare, a 20th century medical doctor and New Zealand's first Māori Health Minister. Sir Māui Pōmare Annual Commemorations happen every third Saturday in June at Ōwae Marae, sometimes at Urenui Pā (Ngāti Mutunga). "[He] was a local rangatira and a doctor who was concerned for our people and the infrastructure around how we lived," Manukorihi Pā Reserve trustee and Marae Kaitiaki Roina Graham said. Pōmare (Ngāti Mutunga and Ngāti Toa) graduated the American Medical Missionary College in Chicago in 1899 and returned to Aotearoa the following year to give back to Māori. In 1911, he was elected to Parliament representing Western Māori and in 1923 he became the Minister of Health. Sir Māui Pōmare died in 1930 in Los Angeles, but was buried at Ōwae Marae. Tā Māui Pōmare statue during the Ōwae Marae carving restorations in 2024. It is where Pōmare was buried Photo: RNZ / Emma Andrews Surrounded by mana whenua, Māui Pōmare's great-grandaughter Miria Pōmare, and current Māori doctors, New Zealand's leading neuroscientist Sir Richard Faull (Te Atiawa) gave an impromptu speech paying homage to his heroes Tā Māui Pōmare and Te Rangi Hīroa (Sir Peter Buck). Although Pōmare was New Zealand's first Māori doctor, Te Rangi Hīroa was the first Māori doctor to have graduated in Aotearoa. Te Rangi Hīroa was a Māori medical officer under Pōmare, both came together to improve the sanitation of Māori settlements and the health of the tangata Māori. Faull, a Waitara High School alumni of 1963, said he was a 'book nerd' and was awarded dux and received the Te Rangi Hīroa medal in his final year "That medal is a beacon for me," Faull said. It gave him a nudge into health care. "You can only look after the health of your people by having your people as your leaders, your doctors." Growing up, Faull knew he was Māori, but when he was doing medicine and brain research in the USA at Boston's MIT and Harvard, he needed more financial assistance to continue, so he asked for it in a letter to his dad. His dad wrote back and said kaumātua from Te Atiawa wanted to give him $1000. It was like gold to him, but he didn't "feel Māori" back then and didn't want to accept the offer. Faull recalled the letter from his dad that read 'they have said that you will come home, and they want you to take this [koha]." It stirred his Māori whakapapa. Richard Faull Photo: University of Auckland / CBR In 1986, Faull delivered a speech about Parkinson's and Huntington's disease to a group of people in Taranaki where he noticed a group of Māori from Te Atiawa. The group asked Faull to help them with their Huntington's disease which is an inherited gradual decay of nerve cells in the brain affecting movement, thinking, and emotional problems. "I didn't know how I was going to help them, but they were asking me home." Every year he had met with the whānau from Te Atiawa, but it was during Friday's 'special' hui with them that he was able to deliver assurance. Faull, and other researchers have been working to find a way to 'turn the gene off' that causes Huntington's. "For the first time I gave them hope, for the first time it felt like Māori helping Māori. "We have come home to help our whānau, nothing is going to stop us." Faull had spent 50 years on brain research, and for the past five years he and Dr Makarena Dudley - a clinical neuropsychologist and 'expert' on dementia in kaumātua Māori - have been to 17 different marae to talk to iwi Māori about what they're finding in the neuro space. "We're not there to tell them what to do. We're there to listen to what they need and then we help them," Faull said. Faull was one of many who developed MAPAS (Māori and Pacific Admission Scheme) at the Auckland Medical School to support and increase the number of Māori and Pacific health professionals. According to the Medical Council for New Zealand's most recent data from 31 March, 2025, it's a steady incline for Māori who now make up 5.11 percent of current practicing doctors in Aotearoa. Faull was proud to say his son was a second-year health surgeon in Whangārei who aimed to form a general practice with Māori. "We have to have our Māori doctors to look after our Māori people and that is non-negotiable." "Māui Pōmare knew that. He went out and he turned health around for Māori. Māori were declining in population and Māui Pōmare, Te Rangi Hīroa, Apirana Ngata, they changed the horizon... and that horizon is still threatened." Sir Māui Wiremu Piti Naera Pōmare while a student at Battle Creek College in Michigan, USA, in 1899. Photo: Supplied / Alexander Turnbull Library Te tiriti is the 'goal standard' Faull pleaded to politicians. "It's about partnership. Partnership is not about one partner being dominant over the other partner, it is about shared values, a shared vision, it is about equality for all. "Never forget what partnership is about, it's not about dismantling te tiriti, we are here to honour the words of our ancestors, our tīpuna." He said Māori look to their tīpuna to chart for their future. "Their words, their actions, they did this to guide us. Māui Pōmare did it [and] Te Rangi Hīroa - Sir Peter Buck." Although Faull said it's wonderful to see the number of Māori doctors celebrating the life of Tā Māui Pōmare, there was a big task ahead. "It's not a task that's special or different for Māori, it's a task about giving equity to Māori. About self-expression helping them to determine their future. That is a partnership. "We've come a long way, but we've got so much further to go." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
26-06-2025
- Health
- RNZ News
Concerns health legislation changes could 'weaken' voices of Māori communities
Co-chairperson of Te Tiratū Iwi Māori Partnership Board, Hagen Tautari worried the changes could lead to a loss of an authentic whānau voice. Photo: Supplied/Sarah Sparks A group of Iwi Māori Partnerships Boards (IMPBs) are concerned changes to New Zealand's health legislation will weaken the voices of local Māori communities and centralise decision-making in Wellington. Earlier this month Minister of Health Simeon Brown announced the government will be [ introducing legislation for a 'suite of amendments' to the Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) Act. Brown said the legislation would clarify and streamline the role of IMPBs, shifting their focus away from local service design and delivery, to engaging with communities on local perspectives and Māori health outcomes. "Local IMPBs will continue to engage with their communities but will now provide advice directly to [the Hauora Māori Advisory Committee] HMAC. That advice will then support decisions made by the minister and the Health New Zealand board." Hagen Tautari, co-chairperson of Te Tiratū Iwi Māori Partnership Board - which represented the wider Waikato region - said the changes would lead to a shift to centralised decision-making in Wellington and would undermine the community driven process the IMPBs were part of. Removing the boards' ability to influence change and putting that responsibility back on the Ministry of Health would lead to the loss of an authentic whānau voice, he said. "The previous minister had spoken about powering up the Iwi Māori Partnership Boards, the current minister has instead powered down them to a degree." Previous Minister of Health Shane Reti had indicated he was keen to give IMPBs a much broader remit . The 15 IMPBs were established in 2022 initially to support the Māori Health Authority and to advocate for whānau and communities in their regions. Tautari said they do "critical work" to ensure whānau voices were collected and used to influence service design. "When they removed [Te Aka Whai Ora] some of that responsibility was taken on board by the Iwi Māori Partnership Boards and it wasn't an ideal situation, but it was better than the alternative of having none of that. So now by reducing the powers of the Iwi Māori Partnership Boards it's a further erosion." The boards have penned a letter to the minister outlining their concerns endorsed by the larger Te Manawa Taki IMPB collective, which comprised Te Tiratū and boards from Tairāwhiti, Bay of Plenty, Rotorua, Taupō and Taranaki. Tautari said they supported the "intent" of the minister to ensure all New Zealanders receive timely and quality healthcare. But that intent needed to have the correct vehicle to turn aspirations into action. The minister had possibly put too much emphasis on Health New Zealand leading that work, he said. "By eroding what we are doing they are effectively making Te Whatu Ora a substitute for what the IMPB's are doing... they won't be able to do that because they don't have the mandate and I don't think they actually have the knowledge and the intel to actually manage that." Another of the proposed changes was to enhance and strengthen the role played by the Hauora Māori Advisory Committee (HMAC) which provided advice to the minister and the board of Health New Zealand. Tautari said changes were major, placing extra expectations on the committee. "We certainly support the committee, but I feel that they are removing such a strong and powerful ally when they depower and reduce the roles of the Iwi Māori Partnership Boards. So I certainly support the minister's intent, I just think he's gone about it in a way that I don't think is conducive to progress." It was important the IMPBs continued to advocate for and hold fast to Te Tiriti because at the end of the day it was not going anywhere, and Māori were not going anywhere, he said. "I think it's incumbent on all of us who work in these areas to understand that Te Tiriti is a constitutional foundation and any reforms must reflect the Crown's enduring duty to uphold Te Tiriti obligations in both law and practice and not just through policy alone." The minister of health has been approached for comment. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
15-06-2025
- Health
- RNZ News
Hundreds expected to gather for Māui Pōmare celebrations
Sir Māui Wiremu Piti Naera Pōmare while a student at Battle Creek College in Michigan, USA, in 1899. Photo: Supplied / Alexander Turnbull Library Hundreds of people are expected to gather at the historic Owae Marae in Waitara this month to celebrate the legacy of Māui Pōmare, a 20th-century champion of Māori health. The Tā Māui Pōmare Annual Commemorations have drawn mana whenua from around the motu to the Manukorihi Pā site in Taranaki since 1936 to commemorate Aotearoa's first Māori Health Minister. This year's commemorations will be held on 27 and 28 June. "Tā Māui Pōmare was a local Rangatira and a doctor who was concerned for our people and the infrastructure around how we lived," said Manukorihi Pā Reserve trustee and Marae Kaitiaki Roina Graham. Manukorihi Pā Reserve trustees and Owae Marae Kaitiaki from left, Patsy Porter, Kelly Bailey and Roina Graham. Photo: Supplied / Te Kaunihera ā Rohe o Ngāmotu "This event includes hari mate rā (a ceremony) to acknowledge and honour those who have passed, reo, health, Puanga, iwi, whānau, hapū and political forum discussions, maintaining Iwi relationships throughout the motu and the commemoration of Tā Māui Pōmare." The event is being being supported with a New Plymouth District Council Community Events Grant. Manager of community and economic development Damien Clark said the grants supported events that contribute to the vibrancy of the rohe. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
09-06-2025
- Health
- RNZ News
'Flipping the script' - record number of PhD scholarships granted in Māori Cancer Researcher Awards
Chae Phillips' PhD focused on improving access to care and the experiences of wāhine Māori diagnosed with symptomatic breast cancer. Photo: supplied / Cancer Society Five people have been awarded scholarships to dive into and improve Māori health inequities. The Māori Cancer Researcher Awards - a partnership between Te Kāhui Matepukupuku o Aotearoa (the Cancer Society of New Zealand) and Hei Āhuru Mōwai Māori Cancer Leadership Aotearoa - have given scholarships to four PhD and a Master's candidate. The Gut Cancer Foundation of New Zealand are supporting two of the doctoral candidates. Chae Phillips (Ngāti Rongomaiwahine) is one of this year's recipients, focusing her PhD around improving access to care and the experiences of wāhine Māori diagnosed with symptomatic breast cancer in Waikato. "What really excites me is the ability to go into a space and come from a purely kaupapa Māori grounded perspective and look at things from that perspective, and then work with wāhine Māori to create solutions that come from us and work for us." "We know now that cancer isn't always a death sentence if we find things early, and there's so much more treatment than there was 10 to 15 years ago, and we can do better." Struck by the loss of her mum, who passed away from cancer when Phillips was eight, it has fueled her to work in the health space. "It's such a harrowing experience for an entire whanau. What I remember most, even after all this time, is just the lack of understanding about how we wanted to support her as a whānau - it was very exclusionary, we were very separate and not able to be a part of that journey in the way that we wanted to be. "As a child, I recognised that, so it's something that always stuck with me." Phillips works full time in Taakiri Tuu, the Wellness and Diagnostic Centre at Te Kōhao Health, and stays "up past midnight" to work on her PhD, which is named Te Hā o Hineahuone. "It's paying heed to the power of Hineahuone. It's paying heed to the power of mana wāhine. "When I'm sitting there at midnight on a Friday, I'm like, why did I do this? But the best outcome for me is this could be amazing for my sisters, for my aunties, for the people that I love and care about and that's what keeps me going more." Chae Phillips is doing her PhD through the University of Waikato. Photo: Supplied And she wants more Māori to plunge into researching Māori health. "It's academia, but there's that ability to stand proudly as Māori and go from there as your starting point, not what someone else says you have to be. "It also shines a light on different ways that we can look at doing things, for rangatahi as well, for the next generation coming up and going, now it's possible to create things that are completely different, and from us. Nadine Riwai, Jayde Ngata, Fran Munro, and Gemella Reynolds-Hatem (Master's) also received scholarships. Within the past four years there have been a total of eight recipients to receive the endowment. Hei Āhuru Mōwai tumuaki (chief executive) Gary Thompson said this year's recipients were making tangible strides to improve health inequities whānau Māori faced. "Looking to the future, what excites us about these initiatives is the potential for real, lasting change. We are seeing researchers lead the way in creating frameworks that are not only responsive but also proactive in fostering better engagement and health outcomes for Māori communities. "These scholars are taking meaningful steps that will benefit generations to come, and we're incredibly proud to support them." Cancer Society tumu whakarae (chief executive) Nicola Coom said it is exciting to see the research awards partnership grow and strengthen. "Aotearoa New Zealand is a small nation with immense potential, and collaboration is our superpower. We must drive equity in cancer care and ensure better outcomes for those impacted most - this growing rōpū of researchers are contributing to that goal." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
