Henare PeeniHon PEENI HENARE (Labour): Thank you Mr Speaker. I stand on behalf of the Labour Party to oppose the Pae Ora (Disestablishment of Māori Health Authority) Amendment Bill.Can I first acknowledge the many hard-working New Zealanders—Māori and Pākehā—who work in the health system at large but in particular at Te Aka Whai Ora. Many make the assumption that it's just Māori workers who work at Māori health providers and indeed Te Aka Whai Ora. That's simply not the case. There are many people right across this country who are passionate about Māori health outcomes.What we've just heard from the Minister in describing this bill can only be described as the absolute opposite of that. The Minister in his opening remarks has said that this delivers on the intent of the three-headed taniwha otherwise known as the coalition Government. It sure does if that intent is indeed a regressive Māori policy agenda—and that's what's happening here today. I was fortunate to be the Minister responsible for the building of Te Aka Whai Ora with strong support from our then Minister of Health the Hon Andrew Little and subsequent Ministers of Health who continued to reshape a health system that needed to be reshaped.I want to be very clear—and there are members on that side of the House who are new to the House and I want to say to them—that inequities in Māori health have been in Māori communities for decades. Now I want to remind the members on that side of the House that they were cruelly exposed during COVID-19. In fact one of my jobs as a Minister—I was one of the COVID Ministers—was to travel to each and every one of the districts of the members in this House to literally wring the district health board by the neck and say You must provide better outcomes for Māori because right now you're failing—right now you are failing." That is why the work to reshape the health sector was particularly undertaken because COVID sorely—sorely—exposed the holes in the health sector to show that there are further inequities that are suffered by Māori in particular in times of crisis.Māori right up and down this country stood up to deliver during COVID-19 and in fact Te Whānau o Waipareira in West Auckland delivered over 70000 vaccinations in Tāmaki-makau-rau alone. And guess what! Only 14 percent of those were to Māori. The rest of them were to everybody. This is the lesson I want that side of the House to remember: I want that side of the House to remember Te Aka Whai Ora was here not just for Māori but for the betterment of this entire nation.What we are going to delve into as this bill progresses is clear evidence from many members on this side of the House who witnessed firsthand the decentralisation approach that was taken when we built Te Aka Whai Ora. I challenge the Minister and members on that side of the House who talk about a Wellington bureaucracy: tell me where their office is. Did any of them come to the opening of Te Aka Whai Ora? I can tell you I did. It was opened in Tāmaki-makau-rau Auckland where the largest Māori population is in this country. It wasn't run out of Wellington; in fact it was put back into the hands of our people. We established the iwi-Māori partnership boards in order to make sure that we can fund and commission those outcomes directly in community.Now the Minister has spoken about keeping part of that function. We will be challenging the Minister as we interrogate this bill—about what that looks like. What does that actually mean for the iwi-Māori partnership boards? How do those iwi-Māori partnership boards continue to be supported by Health New Zealand as they look to make sure health outcomes for Māori improve right across this country? I am passionate about Māori health. My uncle Rob Cooper and my father Erima Henare were instrumental in the early Māori health days looking towards how we fund the inequities properly in order to turn around Māori health outcomes for this country.In my final 45 seconds as we interrogate this bill I want to say to all the whānau out there and to all of the kaimahi who have worked hard for Māori outcomes: tai timu tai pari. The tide has turned for now but I say to them: we will tie our waka up on to the shore because inevitably the tide will turn again and our waka will be set out to sea to go towards the aspirations that our people have dreamt of for years. I encourage that side of the House to read Sir Mason Durie Order of New Zealand one of the greatest living New Zealanders currently in his approach to Māori health and then come back and argue the merits of Te Aka Whai Ora. We oppose this bill vehemently."