Parliament makes progress in disestablishing the Māori Health Authority, alleged Sydney killer reveals location of missing couple and new research paints a worrisome picture of our financial outlook in the latest NZ Herald headlines. Video / NZ Herald
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Māori agree this week will go down in history as one of the darkest for te ao Māori.
The scrapping of the Māori Health Authority will go into its third and final hearing this morning, and repealing of the smokefree legislation comes on the back of the Government’s kickback on civil servants learning and speaking te reo, government departments which have Māori names reverting back to their English names and Act’s push for a referendum on the Treaty of Waitangi Principles.
Poutaki Mātauranga Māori adviser at Waipapa Taumata Rau (the University of Auckland) Bernie O’Donnell.
All this for a new administration with less than 100 days on the clock.
Poutaki Mātauranga Māori adviser at Waipapa Taumata Rau (the University of Auckland) Bernie O’Donnell said Māori should have seen this coming.
“We [Māori] made decisions at the polling booth that we should have known would come,” O’Donnell said.
“They [the coalition] campaigned on a bunch of issues that was always going to be detrimental to our Māori communities. In a way we voted knowing that and the decisions we made will come home to roost. I’m not bitter about it but I think Māori have to be more strategic with their voting in the future.”
O’Donnell said not being in government means Māori and poorer communities are subjected to this democracy, where Māori are at the tyranny of the majority.
“This is one of the darkest weeks for te ao Māori, but we are also responsible as well,” O’Donnell said.
“And this is only the beginning. These guys haven’t even been in power for 100 days. It will be very difficult for Māori under this regime to regain the gains we have made over successive National and Labour governments.”
Former Māori Development Minister Willie Jackson.
Labour Māori MP Willie Jackson said Shane Reti and Tama Potaka - National’s two senior Māori MPs - should be hanging their heads in shame at what this Government is doing.
Disgraceful and dark week for this Govt
He said the Government’s true agenda is starting to shine through - and it doesn’t bode well for Māori.
“The majority of people who came on against disestablishing the Māori Health Authority were not politically affiliated people but who work and care deeply for our Māori people, like Sir Professor Mason Durie, who care about the health of Māori,” Jackson said.
“But you have a Government who are just walking over the rights and health of Māori and they use democracy to suit themselves.
“It is a disgraceful and dark week for this Government and those Māori MPs in government should hang their heads in shame.”
Jackson, the former Māori Development Minister, said he would happily work with his National counterpart - who took over the Māori portfolio from Jackson - if it meant progress for Māori.
“I do not have any problems with Tama Potaka and would happily work with him if it meant advancing Māori health outcomes.
“But they scrap the Māori Health Authority and will scrap the world-leading smokefree legislation, where more Māori lives will die.
“All they want to do is fund their tax cuts and will walk all over indigenous peoples’ rights to do that.”
Tuku Morgan. Photo / Supplied
Tukoroirangi Morgan - a former MP now chair of Tainui - said the Waikato Iwi would use its vast resources to hold this Government to account.
“There are some things that have been hard won that are continuously undermined,” Morgan said.
“But that’s politics and its the way successive governments roll and unfortunately Māori are the casualties. It doesn’t matter whether the government is red, blue or green, Māori will always suffer because we are at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder.
“In saying that, all governments leave the door open on issues for people to come through and for me, that is where the opportunity with this new government lay.”
Joseph Los’e is an award-winning journalist and joined NZME in 2022 as Kaupapa Māori Editor. Los’e was a chief reporter, news director at the Sunday News newspaper covering crime, justice and sport. He was also editor of the NZ Truth and prior to joining NZME worked for Whānau Waipareira.
