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.
9 comments:
All too common. Māori using the system to advance ethnicity over the rights of all NZ’ers. If as much money was poured into the health system as is used to settle perceived Māori claims, all NZ’ers would be quite well off.
What’s the bet it results in more taxpayer money being handed over to iwi
When will New Zealand shut down these totally useless and costly use of the courts as political theatre such as in this instance and that maori own the water.
Of course, taxpayers are funding the Crown’s defence.......
but also the taxpayers are funding the claimants .......
It is a money go round where the Iwi get richer and the middle NZ taxpayer supplies the wealth creation scheme via tax...
Nice work if you can get it!
And an ex MP / Lawyer very critical of the one people, all NZ equal concept
It's quite simple Steven, the racist left parties are hell bent on creating divisions. I'm actually almost immune to their racism now days except for the fact that the left losers don't have anyone to pay for their racist policies.....that's where we, the tax payer steps in , to fund the lefts war on 85% of this country. Where is our Trump and musk. I do think that the center have finally had enough however.
LNF @ 8:08
We would all like you to expand on your comment that you are critical of equality in NZ.
Again if Maori fail to prove their argument, they will automatically claim that the lawyers the Government gave them were substandard, and the case should be run again with better lawyers until they win.
For all the kneejerk reaction expressed by Gaskell, it is worth thinking about the comments made in the original report at the end of the link.
One of the applicants, Dr Chris Tooley of Te Puna Ora, says the case is about testing the court's role in defining how Te Tiriti is given effect. “The Waitangi Tribunal can only make recommendations, it is up to the Crown to decide whether to act on them. That’s why this case is so important. The courts don’t just interpret the law; they shape how it is applied.”
The landmark 1877 decision of the then Supreme Court in Wi Parata v Bishop of Wellington declared the Treaty to be a "simple nullity" and not part of domestic law. The waters were muddied in 1975 by the Treaty of Waitangi Act, but that did not make the Treaty the law of the land. It created the Waitangi Tribunal to advise Government on the application of the principles of the treaty.
However as the recent hysteria over the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill showed, Parliament now seems to considers that the Treaty has no principles, which begs the question, what has changed? Did the Supreme Court get it right back in 1871?
So lets hear what today's High Court has got to say about whether the Treaty is part of our law or not. That seems a very reasonable objective, in spite of the sneers expressed in the comments by the usual suspects.
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