Cut off in infancy

A new way of delivering health services would have benefited Pākehā as well as Māori.

- RUTH BROWN

Axing Te Aka Whai Ora was a clear case of racist ideology getting the better of good economic sense, says Te Whatu Ora’s former chair Rob Campbell.

“I’m not prone to saying that lightly. I think there was an anti-Māori form of racism that blinded us to the benefits for all the community.”

He calls the “destruction” of the Māori health authority midway through last year one of the greatest crimes against health services ever committed in this country. And it’s a move that hurts not just Māori but Pākehā as well.

If the authority had been allowed to continue, Campbell says we would already be seeing the benefits in reduced wait times at ED and better access to GPs. “I’m very confident we would have seen the flourishing of kaupapa Māori health services,” he says. It would also have greatly relieved pressure on overflowing emergency departments.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that a significant part of our primary health sector crisis now is caused by the fact we didn’t stick with the delivery of Te Aka Whai Ora.

“And there’s no question that where kaupapa Māori services are available and accessible to people they do take pressure off the hospitals, because they’re delivering in the way people want to have their primary healthcare delivered.”

Campbell says it’s long been known that to improve the health of the Māori population you had to improve Māori-based health services. “So the fact that was cut off means we deliberately made a decision not to improve Māori health.

“It’s a pretty extraordinary thing to happen. I don’t know how to describe that other than it’s a crime.”

That’s why the man who was sacked from his Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand chairmanship in February 2023 for comments about National Party policy gave evidence in support of a claim to the Waitangi Tribunal over the closure of Te Aka Whai Ora.