Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi has taken aim at National and Act’s plans to scrap the Māori Health Authority, Te Aka Whai Ora, if elected, claiming on Sunday’s Q+A programme that the two parties have an early death wish for Māori.
“National and Act want to see Māori die seven to 10 years early,” Waititi said.
It’s a suggestion that National’s health spokesperson, Dr Shane Reti, has labelled “appallingly reckless” in a statement provided to Q+A, while Act leader David Seymour said he was “tired of Mr Waititi’s theatrics”.
Waititi’s comment was sparked by a discussion about a “scathing” independent report which found Te Aka Whai Ora had underspent by tens of millions of dollars, failed to recruit enough staff and was doing a poor job commissioning services.
“After nine months, you’re going to do a report on Te Aka Whai? I tell you, that was the stupidest thing that ever happened and they should throw that report straight out into the bin,” Waititi told Q+A host Jack Tame, who interviewed Te Pāti Māori’s co-leader in Tauranga on Thursday. “How many times has the Ministry of Health failed?”
“The system has been failing us for 183 years, and they expect the Māori Health Authority to make a big difference to clean up 183 years of mess,” he said.
Waititi took issue with a suggestion that the newly-formed agency’s inability to prove its worth within a narrow window of time was fuelling opposition calls to scrap it.
“That’s the problem with those types of parties, National and Act, who want to see Māori die seven to 10 years early,” said Waititi.
Through their actions, the two parties were “actually saying we want to keep Māori where they are,” he said.
Reti has rejected Waititi’s claim.
“This is an appallingly reckless claim. National will deliver better health outcomes for all New Zealanders including Māori,” he said.
“National has already announced many health policies including funding 13 new cancer treatments, which will have life-extending or lifesaving benefits for everyone, but especially Māori who are overrepresented in cancer statistics.”
Q+A said Seymour’s view was that Waititi was “misrepresenting” Act’s motivations.
“We represent a growing number of Māori who want a better tomorrow from devolved social services that Act supports, and are tired of Mr Waititi’s theatrics,” the Act leader said.
“New Zealand faces serious challenges and needs honest healthy debate on what policies will overcome them. Act opposes the Māori Health Authority because division doesn’t work. Mr Waititi would be better off explaining what he will do for Māori instead of divisively and dishonestly misrepresenting other parties’ motivations.”