Businesses should hire "Māori cultural advisors" to ensure the culture is protected after details emerged about how a controversial Covid-19 health board pamphlet was approved.
That's the view of Māori Party co-leader Rawiri Waititi after it was revealed under the Official Information Act Bay of Plenty DHB staff had "significantreservations" about a Covid-19 vaccination pamphlet, which some believed implied Māori were the virus.
The pamphlet was approved after the agency which made the images said iwi had endorsed it, according to an independent investigation.
The Covid-19 pamphlet distributed by the Bay of Plenty District Health Board was pulled from circulation at the end of July after it received backlash for the images used.
The pamphlet featured cartoons of a virus with a mataora, or full-face moko. Another image depicted a person stabbing a virus with a tewhatewha, or spear.
Health board chief executive Pete Chandler said lessons had been learned from the circumstances and the board now had controls in place to ensure this did not happen again.
Four thousand copies of the pamphlet were printed following its approval, and then distributed in late May and June. Photo / Supplied
Waititi, the Waiariki MP, said he believed businesses needed to have "stronger processes" in place to ensure Māori intellectual property was protected.
One such way businesses could do this was hiring Māori cultural advisors and paying them for their expertise, he said.
In his view: "There needs to be some stronger processes put in place to ensure that the exploitation of our intellectual property, our language, our culture, is respected."
Waititi said he believed Māori culture was being "exploited everywhere" and Aotearoa had a "duty of care" to protect Māori intellectual property because it belonged to "Te Ao Māori".
The images depict a cartoon virus imitating Māori by the use of mataora or full-face moko. Photo / Supplied
On the Covid-19 vaccination pamphlet, Waititi believed the DHB needed to have its own processes in regard to "iwi approval of any documentation of that kind".
"It's never acceptable to have those types of images go out as a public campaign because ... Māori felt like we were the virus.
"When you're putting our moko, when you're putting our symbolism on something that's killing millions of people around the world, it's never good enough.
"I'm sure that the DHB and the CEO now have processes in place [to] ensure that will never happen again."
Ngāi Te Rangi chief executive Paora Stanley. Photo / George Novak
Ngāi Te Rangi chief executive Paora Stanley said he felt "assured" something like this would not happen again and was "very happy" with the processes that were carried out to ensure this.
He also praised Bay of Plenty District Health Board chief executive Pete Chandler's "commitment" to the investigation.
"Even though I was really grumpy at the time ... what I felt was good was that the CEO got on to it really really quickly and he claimed responsibility which he didn't need to do."
Chandler said: "Lessons have been learned from what has been a very painful set of circumstances for all concerned, and we're confident we've got the controls in place now so that this doesn't happen again.
"We've acknowledged and apologised for the mistakes which have been made and now, with the completion of the report and its findings, we look forward to moving on together as a healthcare system and a community in our continued fight against Covid."
