Michael Laws: The NZ Medical Council’s Attempt To Impose Marxist & Racist Demands

On The Platform, Michael Laws exposes the NZ Medical Council’s attempt to impose Marxist and racist demands upon all our country’s primary health staff.

Transcript:

Now, the other scandal I want to bring forward to you this morning… You've heard me talk in recent days, weeks - and I'll continue to talk about it - of the Marxist critical theory takeover of New Zealand institutions which started on our academic institutions sadly, and has now spread like a virus, like the Black Death really, through the intellectual and academic and public sectors of this country.

Well, the latest to be infected by it is the New Zealand Medical Council who have just published their draft called - now what's it called? I’d better get the name right. I don't want to offend anybody - Hauora Maori (*Maori heath and wellbeing).

It's a two to three page missive, very similar to the ones (except it didn't take 24 pages for the army) that the New Zealand Army top brass gave to all the army personnel last month. Very similar to that except they've put it on two or three pages, not 24. And it's from the New Zealand Medical Council to all people who work within its practices - all staff. And it is designed (and everything I'm about to quote to you is a direct quote. I'm not making this up. I'm not paraphrasing it) to advance Maori equity - as distinct from any other equity - and dismantle power imbalances.

That's what it says it's going to do straight away. That's its intention for every member of the health staff, public and private, in this country who is under the auspices of the New Zealand Medical Council.

What you immediately get with its instruction to advance Maori equity and dismantle power imbalances, is Marxist critical theory that attempts to overtake the medical profession in general. The buzzwords that they use are unfair, unsafe and equity. I'll come to that in a moment. But they seek all medical professionals to “engage in critical self-reflection to identify and address bias”. So in other words, there is this implicit belief that anybody, particularly non-Maori working in the public health sector of this country is biased and that they are to use “their professional privilege and influence to work in partnership with Maori to dismantle unfair systems”.

So the aim then is to politicize the public health sector in this country and to overthrow the status quo. It's there in the preamble to this particular draft. The medical council says it recognises the status of Maori as Tangata Whenua of Aotearoa New Zealand. It does a lot more than that - it puts them on a pedestal and says you are the most important people in New Zealand.

And then it says this: historical and ongoing colonisation (so apparently the colonisation is still ongoing in 2026) means that Maori are prevented from accessing resources that promote good health. I'm sorry - can you just explain to me any Maori folk in this country who are prevented by ongoing colonisation from accessing public health facilities in this country? I mean that is clearly a lie. It's a form of ideological madness. But there it is stated as fact by the New Zealand Medical Council in its instruction to all health practitioners.

It goes on to say that Maori experience higher exposure to health harms compared to non-Maori. They are over-represented in most socio-economic deprived neighbourhoods. That's fine. That's a fact. But they then link that to historical and ongoing colonisation, and the fact that we've decided that we're actually going to create Maori as second-class citizens by preventing them access to resources that promote good health.

They also say to health practitioners: it's important you understand and recognise inherent indigenous rights that Maori hold as Tangata Whenua, to health, self-determination, and equity.

So you're again politicising the health workforce of this country. They're now not responsible for treating a Maori person who just comes and says what's your ailment? They've actually got to make sure that they support them in their self-determination crusade, whatever that might be, and whatever equity considerations the politicos at the New Zealand Medical Council dream up for them.

So, the aim is to, as I said, politicise the public and private health forces of this country to revolution and to overthrow the existing order in this country. That is what the New Zealand Medical Council's draft intends them to do.

And then it goes on to say this, and this is just serious - I'm not sure there's word salads in this world; there are hallucinations and AI, but I think that those two concepts have merged brilliantly in the New Zealand Medical Council’s next phrase. In your practice - this is the demand that the Medical Council makes of every health practitioner in your practice - you must (it's not you will, you may, you could, we think you should), recognize and show respect for one, the diversity of Maori identities. What does that mean? The diversity of Maori identities - as distinct from any other identities, I assume.

Two, Maori experiences, must be recognised and shown respect.

And three expressions of culture - even if those cultures are obviously causing health problems:

You must approach each Maori patient and whanau with a willingness to listen and learn.

So who knew that you'd head into your medical practitioner - every Maori patient in this country - and it's your job to instruct the patient … sorry obviously the dumb ignorant and overprivileged person who is in actual fact treating you for your ailment.

And it's important to ensure - I'm saying all this again, this is all direct quotes - that the care you provide results in equitable outcomes for Maori - wait for this - compared to non-Maori. So your primary responsibility is to ensure that you're treating Maori as your primary consideration and that their equity is more important than non-Maori.

“So what, the rest of us get left to die then do we?” - exactly. I mean so it doesn't matter whether you're a Pacific Islander or Indian of South African extraction, of Pakeha, of English, Chinese, Filipino, your equity, the fairness, isn't as important as treating the Maori patient.

“So is that the new triage rules at ED now, if you’re Maori, through you go?” - if the New Zealand Medical Council gets its way with this particular draft to all its health practitioners.

And finally this: what is Hauora Maori? And they very kindly define what that is because that's what we're talking about here. Maori health and well-being is defined as Hauora Maori’s definition, as physical, mental, emotional, social and spiritual dimensions that support holistic health and well-being for the individual, whanau, the community and the environment.

So suddenly the doctor has become not somebody who practices medicine. They are responsible for the emotional support of Maori patients, the social support of them, their spiritual support for God's sake. They are also responsible for not just the individual you're treating, but the individual's whanau, the community, and I don't know how this got in there, the environment as well.

This is the indoctrination, and there's only one word that I can use in my entire history of public life, and of history, and of philosophy, and of political philosophy and this is state communism. This is old-fashioned Trotskyite, let's convert the masses, but we'll start on the professional classes first, communism.

And the aim is to turn every health practitioner in this country into an agent to overthrow the status quo and order, and to impose a new set of priorities that are inherently Maori and deal with the entire dimension including the spiritual, the social and the emotional.

That directive has gone out to every health practitioner as a draft for them to comment on. But can I tell you if that becomes - and it's already got the imprimatur of the New Zealand Medical Council - if that were to become the aegis under which doctors, nurses and anybody in primary health operates in this country, there'll be a lot more than just Jacinda Ardern and Clark Gayford looking for a home on the northern suburbs of Sydney. I would suggest to you the entire country will go.

Writer and former broadcaster Michael Laws, who served as an MP and Mayor, is now a councillor on the Otago Regional Council, and talkback host on The Platform.