Kuriger Barbara; Henare PeeniCHAIRPERSON (Barbara Kuriger): Members the House is in committee on the Pae Ora (Disestablishment of the Māori Health Authority) Amendment Bill. Before we adjourned for the dinner break we were on Part 1 and this is the debate on clause 4 to 37 amendments to Part 1 to 3 of the principal Act. Hon PEENI HENARE (Labour): Thank you Madam Chair and thank you for the opportunity to contribute further in this very important debate as we go through clause by clause. There were a number of questions that were posed to the Minister before the dinner break which in the opinion of members on this side of the Chamber were a light touch in the answer from the Minister. So we'll look forward to interrogating these clauses further to allow the Minister more time to be able to come up with something far more comprehensive in his response to a number of the questions that members on this side of the Chamber had.So I wish to start my contribution after the dinner break by talking directly to clause 8 which seeks to amend section 12. The original purpose of that particular section was about making sure that when you've got a Māori health authority board what it did was it guaranteed a place for a member from that board on to Health New Zealand and that was really important. That was about making sure the voice of Māori was heard at the top echelon of health leadership in this country. You'll see in the clause there that it's looking to repeal that section. I'm wanting some assurances here from the Minister about whether he is looking to have Māori representation on Health New Zealand and how does he look towards appointing that? We've already heard and canvassed a number of matters with respect to the HMAC—or the Hauora Māori Advisory Committee. This one though is specifically speaking to Health New Zealand and there are a large number of Māori health professionals who are more than capable to be able to sit on both the HMAC—which has already been touched upon—but also Health New Zealand. What this particular clause does though is repeal the ability to have a Māori representative on there. Now I understand that the Minister and the Government have already made it clear that they are going to disestablish the Māori Health Authority—I get that—and we will prosecute that as we continue in the committee of the whole House. But with respect to Health New Zealand the important part was to ensure that there was a Māori voice there. I spoke briefly before the dinner break about the structure of the way health policy is made in this country. There are a number of terms in here which might seem new to some of the new members in the House but they are important for us to make sure that the voice of Māori is heard across the entire scope of health planning and that's the Government policy statement the health charter the New Zealand health plan. What we are afraid of in repealing section 12(4) is that this Government will continue to minimise the voice of Māori. We've heard from members right across the committee about how important equitable health outcomes are and that resources and the commitment of energy and resource will go to where those health priorities are. It's clear that the data and everything suggests they are all in the Māori community so then how do we ensure that there is a Māori voice at the top of the tree? Of course there's the Minister there and I acknowledge him and his expertise but with Health New Zealand—and that's what I wanted to ask the Minister: how can he ensure there's a Māori voice on the Health New Zealand board? Is he intending to make sure that there is a Māori voice and Māori representation on the board? How will he plan on doing that if he's going to be repealing the ability for the Māori Health Authority board to have somebody on the Health New Zealand board? It was well served since its creation by Tipa Mahuta. But also we were really proud of a number of the others who were on the Health New Zealand board who were part-Māori and I wonder if the Minister can explain how we will continue to have that Māori voice at the top of the tree.The next question I have is with respect to clause 13 where it's going to insert new section 16A with respect to engaging with and reporting to Māori. It says here in new section 16A(b) report back to Māori from time to time on how engagement under this section has informed the performance of its functions." If the Minister can be clear with us on what "from time to time" actually means; is it what we're hearing from members on the other side of the Chamber that it's only every three years because "We've got a mandate."—because that's what we're hearing from that side—or is this suggesting that there are going to be far more periodical opportunities for Māori to be able to engage with the reporting back? I ask those questions of the Minister if he will indulge us."