Little Andrew; Ngarewa-Packer DebbieHon ANDREW LITTLE (Minister of Health): Thank you Madam Chair. I thank the member and look I apologise to the member; I just didn't hear the question about Pharmac. Look I acknowledge the point the member raises and the report that said that Pharmac's performance on equity and particularly in relation to Māori has simply not been acceptable. I think even Pharmac now accepts that. We now have a final set of recommendations from the review group that'll go to Cabinet very shortly and then be publicised and I think we'll start to see there the sorts of measures that now can and need to be taken to improve that. Part of that now and with the benefit of the Māori Health Authority subject to the legislation passing is that there is now a body which Pharmac can now partner with to make sure that the way Pharmac conducts itself and goes about its business does more actively seek to meet the equity shortcomings that have been identified.In relation to what the member describes as cherry-picking aspects of the Waitangi Tribunal's recommendations": I think what we see in relation to the model set up in the Pae Ora bill with the establishment of the Māori Health Authority and another critical element of that also being the iwi-Māori partnership boards—so the iwi-Māori partnership boards that is the opportunity for iwi and the iwi voice and indeed hauora Māori services' voices to be reflected. The Māori Health Authority has an obligation to support those bodies and to draw from them to draw from their mātauranga and their experience to inform their work. Added to that is just—I acknowledged before that we have the Hauora Māori Advisory Committee advising the Minister—the membership of that body comes from Te Ao Māori; the Minister makes the technical appointment but the recommendations come from Te Ao Māori and indeed from iwi-Māori partnership boards and hauora Māori services as well.So I think there is a balance achieved there so that the leadership that we are all wanting and needing to see in relation to Māori health will be leadership by Māori for Māori. The Crown's role is to ensure that happens to facilitate it to protect it and to make sure that it is integrated into the rest of the health system. So I think it achieves what many have advocated for. I think it achieves what the Waitangi Tribunal recommended in the Wai 2575 claims. And I detect as I get around a real enthusiasm right across the health sector to see this model in place and to see it work—because we all know we have to make a significant difference when it comes to access by Māori to health and to Māori health outcomes.DEBBIE NGAREWA-PACKER (Co-Leader—Te Paati Māori): Thank you for that clarity. So can I just ask one last question? If I understand—and I completely support your view on iwi on the Tiriti partnership and tangata whenua part of it—at the end of the day is it you as the Minister who will decide what of those recommendations that you'll accept? Or is there an equal balance in how those recommendations—a little bit like the tribunal—will be adopted in going forward?Hon ANDREW LITTLE (Minister of Health): Madam Chair thank you. If I understand the member's question when it comes to the advice and recommendations of the Hauora Māori Advisory Committee if I don't accept wholly or in part a recommendation of the Hauora Māori Advisory Committee then I have to transparently say that. And if I'm being called upon to implement something on the basis of their advice or recommendations and if there is any one of their recommendations that I don't accept then I have to explicitly state that. But that group is there to assist me in the discharge of my powers as Minister when it comes to decisions that bear upon Māori health or the Māori Health Authority which includes discharging powers in relation to members of the Māori health board. So there is no absolute guarantee that I or the Minister of the day will accept the recommendations unquestioningly; it may well be that some recommendations will be rejected. But if they are then that has to be publicly notified and made transparent."