Did she walk or was she pushed?
That’s the question former Te Whatu Ora chair Rob Campbell is asking about his successor Dame Karen Poutasi’s sudden departure from the job.
Mr Campbell was sacked by Labour for a LinkedIn post suggesting National was dog-whistling against Maori in its attack on the Three Waters infrastructure policy.
He says Dame Karen’s departure should be seen as an opportunity to seriously deal with the reintegration of the Maori Health Authority into the mainstream health system.
“Now Te Aka Whai Ora has been abolished and its functions are largely taken up within Te Whatu Ora there is a really bad need to lift Maori presence at the Te Whatu Ora Board table. Hopefully they will regard it as an opportunity not just to shuffle some other old bureaucrat in there but to put someone with real teeth and preferably someone with a strong Maori health background into the leadership position,” Mr Campbell says.
He says the job cuts also cast doubt on the prospects for iwi-Maori partnership boards, which are under-funded and under-powered.
- Waatea News