Henare PeeniHon PEENI HENARE (Labour): Thank you Madam Speaker. First as I gaze to my left here in the House I think of our colleague and good friend Efeso Collins being farewelled today. Of course with members of the House our thoughts continue to be with his family his lovely wife and his two daughters at this time.More than 700 doctors have asked this Government to justify the decision to scrap the Māori Health Authority. More than 700 experts right around the country and indeed offshore have continued to press why the Government is removing the Māori Health Authority. In fact Al Jazeera yesterday even reported on the loss of indigenous rights and indigenous health outcomes by the deeds and actions of this Government.It disappoints me greatly that over the past three days through urgency kaupapa like the Māori Health Authority was disestablished. We hear from the other side of the House that outcomes in health are really important. I want to highlight to the Government that the outcomes they speak of are things like surgery waiting lists emergency room waiting lists. Yes that's true. That's the job of Health New Zealand; that's not the job of Te Aka Whai Ora. The job of Te Aka Whai Ora was to be the fence at the top of the cliff so that Māori didn't need an ambulance at the bottom. They were there with a clear focus on public health outcomes good messaging to bring better health outcomes to Māori encouraging rangatahi Māori to pursue a career in health and to make sure that we continue to support communities to look after communities so that there wasn't a need to have an ambulance at the bottom of the cliff. Sadly though that fence has now been removed.When we launched the Māori Health Authority in Waitangi—and it was symbolic in Waitangi because it was about a Crown and Māori relationship. That hasn't played out in the disestablishment of the Māori Health Authority but I return back to that day in Waitangi. I said at the end of my contribution that day ina mate ahau kua tutuki katoa aku mahi—that means Should I pass away suddenly my job here is done."Well I stand here today to say clearly there's lots more work to be done and that this side of the House—and indeed myself and the many health experts and health workers around this country—will continue to push for the case for clear Māori health outcomes to make sure that they don't fall to the bottom of the cliff and they don't require the ambulance; that we can indeed put a fence at the top.Now I'm sure all members across the House will agree to that. Of course we've heard all week how disappointed we are that through urgency no public consultation has taken place for such important pieces of legislation: the disestablishment of the Māori Health Authority and the smoke-free repeal. The country has already made their view clear that the smoke-free targets—making sure that future generations are smoke-free—was something that we all believed in. Sadly though those were overturned without the kind of consultation that we need and we require in a good democracy.It's really disappointing when we hear from the other side that they have a mandate from the election—and of course that's how this works and that's why they're on the Treasury benches and we aren't; I understand that. But also with that power comes huge responsibility: the responsibility to allow the public to have their voice on all matters that actually relate to them and are important to them. I'm sad to say that not only this week did the Māori Health Authority get repealed not only did important smoke-free legislation—world-leading smoke-free legislation—get repealed also that a part of democracy died with the urgency that was put forward by this particular Government.I want to return back to what I said at the launch of the Māori Health Authority: should I die my work here is done. Clearly there is more work to be done and I want to say to the members on that side of the House and indeed to the public out there listening today: Ka whawhai tonu mātou āke ake ake."