Labour Party leader Chris Hipkins says shutting down Te Aka Whai Ora is a wasted opportunity to reset the entire health system.
The Maori Health Authority is being wound up after less than a year in operation and most of its staff and operations are being transferred back to Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora and the Ministry of Health.
Hipkins says government doesn’t have all the answers to every challenge the country faces, and one of its jobs should be to empower the people who do.
That’s why Labour is committed to by Maori, for Maori approaches.
“When we’re back in government we’re still committed to that approach and I think if we can get that up and running, then non-Maori are going to be demanding something similar because they are going to be looking at the more holistic way Maori providers think about healthcare and they are going to be saying ‘why can’t we have that as well?’ so the very old-fashioned way we think about health has to change and I think our Maori health providers are at the forefront of changing it because they are taking a much more holistic approach to health and well being,” Hipkins says.
He says the people who were angry before the election about issues like the cost of living crisis are still angry because the problem hasn’t gone away.
- Waatea News