Coffey TāmatiTĀMATI COFFEY (Labour): Thank you Madam Speaker. I am overjoyed to be able to stand here and wrap up what's been an interesting afternoon of debate. We've heard a lot from that side of the House—the side of the House that is not going to be supporting this bill. That side of the House that doesn't want to talk about Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the partnership obligations that we have—Harete Hipango: I just did.TĀMATI COFFEY: —as a Government to be able to deliver—Yeah one one. I'll give you that Harete but you're still opposing this and so for that reason I just need to acknowledge that actually everybody else on that side who has stood and spoken today has not acknowledged the partnership. Everybody is really keen to stand there and talk about Māori apparently taking over the system talking about the inequity but not really talking about the nub of it which is about partnership. This is about partnership.Members over there over on that side challenged us and said What's going to change once this comes in?" I'll tell you what's going to change Māori are going to have faith in our health system. I'll say it again: what's going to change? Māori are going to have faith in our health system. Because that very principle that this whole reform is based is the principle of partnership but also the principle of rangatiratanga. Rangatiratanga that was signed up to in 1840 and for so long our Māori people have been waiting for that seat at the table. Not just as advisers we don't want to be advisers we're over being advisers we want to see that the decision-making table—and I heard it before Penny Simmonds stand up and talk about the tertiary sector. Hey there's work going on there. And actually we're sitting there with Joseph Mooney—actually we've heard from the Ministry of Education and there's some great work happening with Te Pūkenga. Why? Because the clause in their bill expects them to honour Te Tiriti. Honour Te Tiriti. This bill is going to revolutionise our health system because what does it do? It encourages us it actually mandates our health system to give effect to Te Tiriti. This all comes back to Te Tiriti and for those people that don't understand that you really do need to have a lesson. And actually those people that do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.So what I want to do is I just want to talk for a moment if you will about once upon a time when we reformed our health system back in the 80s the early 80s. There was scepticism back then about what exactly our health system was doing for Māori. I want to acknowledge the Hui Whakaoranga which happened in 1984. In 1984 there was a hui that was called Māori showed up from all around the country—I want to acknowledge my colleague Nanaia Mahuta whose mum was there and actually gave a presentation at the Hui Whakaoranga. So did Puti O'Brien she came together to talk about the changes that were happening in small Māori communities that they said to the Ministry of Health and the Department of Education at the time "You need to get on board and help us to solve these issues." Many of the conclusions that they reached back in 1984 the things that they were asking for are still valid now. They're still valid now because we don't have that equity in our health system. That's why we did the review that's what the review told us it told us that Māori were underserved by our current health system it told us that we need to get rid of our DHBs and that we needed to have Māori sitting there in a partnership role giving them the rangatiratanga that they want over the health system.I want to talk about some of the conclusions that were actually reached in that particular hui and it was as I say it was very similar to the things that we're talking about now and the things that we're seeking to change. One of the conclusions: they want Māori people to be able to define health for themselves—1934 rangatiratanga. They wanted Māori to be able to identify their own specific health concerns and devise solutions to meet those—1984. They wanted to see health as part of who we are where we've come from where we've gone. They wanted to be able to involve taha wairua into our health system to make sure to understand to have a bit of cross-cultural understanding that actually te ao wairua is huge for our Māori people. This is really big—I want to tell a story about my dad who was born without any skin. For two years he sat in the hospital nobody knew what went wrong it was my great-grandmother that called from the East Coast and said to my grandmother "You've burnt some photos. You've burnt some photos and there's a spell on him and you need to go back and you need to do a karakia and you need to fix it." My nan did that and my dad's skin started to grow back. Taha wairua is huge. The knowledge and the mātauranga that Māori have been denied for so long in our health system has come to the fore through this bill.This bill is going to change things and it will change things instantly for our Māori people. They will see themselves reflected in the governing institutions they will see themselves reflected in the governance board of the Māori Health Authority. They will understand that the health system is actually underpinned by rangatiratanga—the thing that we signed up to in 1840. The thing that we were crying out for in 1984 when Dame Whina Cooper stood there and said at the Hui Whakaoranga "We want more action." We want more people to understand that actually Māori have got a valuable consideration and a valuable contribution to make. Not as advisers but actual decision makers in this whole health system.The fact that I'm going to die seven years younger than every other non-Māori person in this place is an absolute injustice. And yes we should all hang our heads in shame about that. But do we just hang our heads? Or do we actually do something about it? Well I'll tell you what we're doing: this Government is committed to doing something about it. We are going to do something about it. We brought this bill to the House. This is actually—this is not light this has had hundreds of years behind it.I acknowledge the signing of the treaty. I acknowledge the people that turned up to the Hui Whakaoranga back in 1984. I acknowledge the contribution from my colleague Elizabeth Kerekere when she talked about back in the day; Dr Meihana Durie and his te whare tapa whā model and his want to be able to get that acknowledged in mainstream health. I want to acknowledge Dr Rose Pere with her wheke model from the Lake Waikaremoana far off into the distance. She wanted everybody to understand that mātauranga Māori shouldn't be separate to our health system and that actually te ao wairua is everything. And that's the reason that there is so much distrust from many of our Māori in our hard to reach communities because they don't trust the health system. And actually if COVID has taught us anything—if COVID has taught us anything—it should be teaching us that actually we need to turn that around. We need to be able to encourage our Māori to have faith in the system. How are they going to have faith in the system? We need to revolutionise it and that's what we're attempting to do here. It's not a complete revolution. We're not throwing everything out and starting again. No we have to work with what we've got but we can tweak the systems and we can underlie it with some principles.I know that actually the future looks bright for our health system. We need to at every opportunity encourage Māori to be able to create their own solutions for themselves. That's what we've always wanted: by Māori for Māori. But actually you know what? An extension of that. As my good colleague Meka Whaitiri talks about "By Māori for everyone." Actually that's pretty cool because actually some of those concepts some of those principles are actually worth considering. But for so long Māori haven't been at that table and this is about to change that.I want to acknowledge all of those iwi-DHB partnerships all around the country that have tried to put together a strategic plan and work towards common goals. But at the end of the day the DHBs they're not doing a great job. That's nothing to do with the workers that are actually working day in and day out in our healthcare system. That's not their fault it's the system. And that's what we need to change here. And that's what we're looking to do. We're changing the system and we're inserting Māori into this conversation like they should have been in this conversation in 1840. They weren't there then. We weren't there then. We're here now.For that reason this is a significant piece of legislation. It will pass but we want to make it the best possible legislation that it can be. So this is a karanga out there to everybody that's listening via radio via television. This is a call to those people that have ever experienced inequity in our health system to come forward and to put your submissions in because we need to hear your voices. For so long your voices have been quiet. For so long you've been sending in your complaint letters. For so long nobody's been acknowledging you or seeing you. Well today we see you. We hear you. We acknowledge you and we want you to contribute into this process. I commend this bill to the House."