Steven Gaskell: A Court Case Over Who Gets to Run the Thermometer

Next week the High Court in Wellington will host the latest round of political theatre: a group of Māori health providers are suing the Government for daring to shut down Te Aka Whai Ora the Māori Health Authority.

The Authority, remember, was created in 2022 to give Māori their own separate bureaucracy inside the health system. Labour sold it as revolutionary, though most patients simply noticed longer waiting lists, more managers, and more money disappearing into the great Wellington filing cabinet.

National campaigned on axing it and won. Dr Shane Reti, Health Minister at the time, duly did what voters asked: shut it down in February 2024. His logic was scandalously simple health care should be based on need, not ethnicity. The horror.

But now, four Māori health outfits (Te Kōhao Health, Te Puna Ora o Mataatua, Papakura Marae, and Ngāti Hine Health Trust) want the courts to rule that disestablishment breached both the Bill of Rights Act and, naturally, Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Apparently, health isn’t about fixing broken hips or treating cancer it’s about constitutional lawyering and the right to another boardroom.

Of course, taxpayers are funding the Crown’s defence, while the claimants are backed by iwi organisations and, no doubt, the usual assortment of consultants who never met a grievance they couldn’t invoice.

The Tribunal has already done its bit, pronouncing that the Crown had “breached the Treaty.” One might think the Tribunal has never seen a policy it couldn’t interpret as a breach. The High Court will now be asked to turn political preference into constitutional obligation.

Will the Court reinstate Te Aka Whai Ora? Unlikely. At most, expect a stern finger-wagging declaration that the Crown didn’t consult enough before taking the scalpel to the bureaucracy. Translation: another report, another round of submissions, and another generation of lawyers very gainfully employed.

Meanwhile, ordinary New Zealanders Māori and non Māori alike still sit on waiting lists, still struggle to see a GP, and still wonder why the only part of the health system that seems healthy is the litigation industry.

Steven is an entrepreneur and an ex RNZN diver who likes travelling, renovating houses, Swiss Watches, history, chocolate art and art deco.