Medical Council of New Zealand Pushing for Neo-Marxist Praxis: A Lysenkoist Drift in Professional Regulation
The Medical Council of New Zealand (MCNZ) has released draft statements on cultural competence, cultural safety, and Hauora Māori. These documents are presented as neutral professional guidance, but their structure, language, and underlying assumptions reveal a clear ideological lineage. They embed Critical Theory, Critical Race Theory, Critical Indigeneity, and decolonisation ideology into the regulatory framework governing medical practice.
This is not a matter of “being respectful” or “understanding culture.” It is the politicisation of medicine through a framework that demands ideological conformity, redefines professional competence, and subordinates clinical judgment to identity-based power analysis.
The parallels with Lysenkoism, the Soviet-era ideological takeover of biology, are not metaphorical. They are structural.
The parallels with Lysenkoism, the Soviet-era ideological takeover of biology, are not metaphorical. They are structural.
The Ideological Architecture of the MCNZ Drafts
The MCNZ documents embed several core tenets of Critical Theory:
- Power analysis as the organising principle of professional practice
- Identity as the primary determinant of legitimacy
- Self-criticism and confession as professional obligations
- Equity as an outcome mandate, not an aspiration
- Cultural knowledge systems are coequal or superior to scientific knowledge
1. Power and Privilege as the Lens for All Clinical Interaction
The draft Statement on Cultural Competence and Cultural Safety requires doctors to:
- “examine your identity, culture, and dimensions of power and privilege”
- “actively challenge your own bias and that of others”
- “recognise and address power imbalances”
This is textbook Critical Race Theory and Critical Indigeneity.
2. Cultural Safety as Patient-Defined Ideological Compliance
The MCNZ defines cultural safety as:
- “what the patient experiences”
- “as defined by patients and their communities”
- “as measured through progress towards achieving health equity”
- The doctor is responsible for the patient’s subjective feelings.
- The doctor is accountable for “equity” outcomes, not clinical outcomes.
- The doctor’s competence is judged by ideological criteria, not medical skill.
3. The Reframing of Māori Health Through Critical Indigeneity
The Hauora Māori statement asserts:
- Māori have “inherent Indigenous rights to health, self-determination and equity”
- Doctors must “advocate for approaches that respond to the wider determinants of hauora Māori”
- Doctors must “support Māori participation and leadership in the health workforce”
The document also elevates mātauranga Māori as a knowledge system doctors must “recognise” and “respect” as part of clinical practice. This is identical to the ideological pattern I have documented in:
The MCNZ is importing the same epistemic framework into medicine.
The Mechanisms of Neo-Marxist Praxis in the MCNZ Drafts
Critical Theory is not merely descriptive. It is praxis—the fusion of theory and political action.
The MCNZ drafts operationalise praxis through:
1. Mandatory Self‑Critique and Confession
Doctors must:
- “engage in ongoing self‑reflection”
- “identify and address bias in your clinical thinking”
- “recognise incidents of direct, indirect, subtle, or unintentional discrimination”
2. Equity as an Outcome Mandate
Doctors are required to:
- “ensure the care you provide results in equitable outcomes for Māori compared to non-Māori”
Equity is not equality of access. It is equality of outcome, which requires:
- differential treatment
- political advocacy
- systemic restructuring
3. The Delegitimisation of “Dominant Culture” Medicine
The MCNZ states:
- “medical practice is strongly informed by the beliefs of the dominant culture”
- this “does not align with Māori culture” and “does not build trust”
- evidence-based medicine
- scientific epistemology
- universal standards of care
This is epistemic relativism, a hallmark of Critical Theory.
The Lysenkoist Parallels
Lysenkoism was not merely bad science. It was ideology replacing science under State authority.
The MCNZ drafts exhibit the same structural features:
1. Ideology Elevated Above Evidence
Lysenko subordinated genetics to Marxist dialectics. The MCNZ subordinates medicine to Critical Theory.
2. Political Loyalty as Professional Competence
Under Lysenko, scientists were judged by ideological purity. Under the MCNZ drafts, doctors are judged by:
- their self-critique
- their alignment with equity ideology
- their adherence to cultural safety doctrine
Lysenkoism punished dissent. The MCNZ drafts imply that failure to comply with cultural safety expectations constitutes:
- professional misconduct
- unsafe practice
- breach of ethical standards
4. Replacement of Scientific Knowledge With Politicised Alternatives
Lysenko replaced genetics with pseudoscience. The MCNZ elevates:
- mātauranga Māori
- identity epistemology
- cultural narratives
This is not respect for culture. It is epistemic capture.
The Consequences for Medicine in New Zealand
The MCNZ drafts will produce:
ideological conformityfear-based complianceerosion of clinical autonomydeprioritisation of scientific evidenceidentity-based gatekeepingpoliticisation of medical educationdeclining trust in the profession
Most dangerously, they create a system where:
- clinical decisions are judged politically
- outcomes are measured ideologically
- knowledge is evaluated culturally
Conclusion: A Lysenkoist Drift in Aotearoa’s Medical Regulation
The MCNZ’s draft documents are not neutral. They are not cultural guidance. They are not about respect or communication.
They are the institutionalisation of Critical Theory within medical regulation.
They demand:
- ideological confession
- political advocacy
- epistemic relativism
- outcome-based equity mandates
- subordination of science to identity politics
This is Lysenkoism in a new form: not genetics replaced by dialectical biology, but medicine replaced by Critical Theory.
The stakes are the same: the integrity of science, the autonomy of clinicians, and the safety of patients.
MCNZ Draft Documents
- Statement on Cultural Competence and Cultural Safety
- Statement on Hauora Māori (Māori health and wellbeing)
- Draft statements on cultural competence, cultural safety, and hauora Māori
Colinxy regularly blogs at No Minister, This article was sourced HERE

4 comments:
Don't forget: you probably need to hire Maori cultural advisors to help create policies. Cultural advisors don't need to study or go to university because they have Lived Experience and the DNA (they've done the testing!) to be experts and offer expert advice (for a hefty fee, including travel costs and per diems). Your taxpayer dollars at work!
Yes, the NZMC is no longer fit for purpose, and needs to be eviscerated.
I & many colleagues see it as little more than a ' Cultural Taliban'....hijacked by zealots while the bulk of us do battle with the realities of clinical medicine at the coal face!
Imagine the toll this BS is going to inevitably inflict on retention of our most intelligent clinicians!🤦♂️
Quite simply, an indoctrination strategy - now being extended to many other professional domains. In parallel at school and university levels, the same ideological approach continues.
What is the Coalition doing about this?
We need to focus on electing people to parliament who can correct the dire trajectory we are on. Not focus on sideshows such as The Maori Party. They have no power. The elected government has the power to fix these things. They control our health and our health outcomes. The present government has squandered their time abysmally. The present coalition has not kept to their mandate. We could try having ACT and NZF in a stronger position. They are the only politicians out of a very sorry bunch who could be said to be 'on the side of the people".
"National" and "Labour" are just a name for a diverse collection of New Zealanders, nothing more.
Maybe all party votes go to ACT and NZF?
We can talk ad infinitum, but we need solutions, and fast.
Post a Comment
Thank you for joining the discussion. Breaking Views welcomes respectful contributions that enrich the debate. Please ensure your comments are not defamatory, derogatory or disruptive. We appreciate your cooperation.