Latest news with #Treaty-obsessed
Scoop
22-07-2025
- Health
- Scoop
Putting Patient Need Ahead Of Treaty Ideology
Welcoming the first-reading passage of the Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) Amendment Bill, ACT Health spokesperson Todd Stephenson says: "We fund the health system to deliver services, not ideology. But Labour saddled Health New Zealand with Treaty provisions that effectively divided patients by race and distracted from quality, timely care. "ACT says services should be delivered on the basis of patient need and value-for-money – not race. We scrapped the Māori Health Authority, and now we're patching up the rest of Labour's Treaty-obsessed health reforms. "We're stripping out requirements for health entities to be focused on Māori health outcomes, mātauranga Māori, and 'cultural safety'. These settings have led to compliance nightmares where even Chinese acupuncturists are required to demonstrate expertise in tikanga. "Perhaps most importantly – and incredibly, forgotten by Labour – we're introducing an objective for services to be effective and timely. And we're restoring accountability to taxpayers with a requirement for specific targets in the Government Policy Statement on Health. "Kiwis waiting for a hip operation or stuck in the emergency department don't care whether their practitioner has a tikanga-centric worldview. They just want quality healthcare, quickly. That's what we're delivering."
Scoop
14-07-2025
- Business
- Scoop
Universities Seeking International Students Need Less Woke, More World-Class
Responding to the announcement of a Government target to double international students' contribution to the economy, ACT Tertiary Education spokesperson Dr Parmjeet Parmar says: "Tweaks to visa rules and a new marketing campaign might entice some students. But if we are serious about hitting the Government's target, universities will need to improve their offerings. "With countless other countries vying for their money, New Zealand needs to work hard to stand out. But currently, only the University of Auckland makes the top 100 in the QS world rankings. "Our universities must ensure they are offering education that is globally relevant. But we've seen New Zealand universities become increasingly inward and Treaty-obsessed. "We have to ask the question, why would someone come here from Korea or China to be forced to study local indigenous traditions, and to participate in bizarre rituals that offer no relevance to their careers abroad? "Compulsory Treaty courses, the creep of tikanga into science and law, exclusionary study spaces, and race-based opportunities all send the wrong message to would-be students. "We need less pandering to local politics and more focus on excellence. Less woke, more world-class. We must decide: do we want to be a serious player in international education or a navel-gazing backwater? "Ultimately what international students want is a world-class university experience. That is what they pay for. Unlike local students, international students pay full fees –tens of thousands of dollars a year. They effectively subsidise the university system for everyone else, and we should respect their intelligence."
