Lyndon HūhanaHŪHANA LYNDON (Green): Karanga kārangaranga waiata whānau eUnuhia te rito o te harakeke kei hea te kōmako e kō?Whakatairangitia rere ki uta rere ki taiMāu e kī mai He aha te mea nui?"Māku e kī atu "He tangata he tangata he tangata".[Call put out the call sing familyPull out the new shoot of the flax bush where will the bellbird then sing?Elevate it fly inland fly out to seaShould you say to me "What is the greatest thing?"I will say to you "It is people it is people it is people".]I share this waiata with us this morning as I grieve the loss of Te Aka Whai Ora. Because in Te Ao Māori we have a term moumou and Whaea Debbie Ngarewa-Packer spoke of the moumou of the loss of Efeso and now we have the moumou of losing Te Aka Whai Ora through the acts of this Government through urgency in this House. That waiata reflects on the importance of people at the centre of what we do and why we are here. I'm not here to play games. I am focused on the health and wellbeing of our people. And when I see a blatant disregard for the people of New Zealand and te Iwi Māori to shut us out to have an opinion on such an important piece of legislation—4685 submitters contributed towards Pae Ora and now within a matter of hours maybe a day and a half we see the end of half of what Pae Ora set out to do.I reflect on the claimants and the aspirations and the challenges that they shared in the Wai 2575 health outcomes inquiry and the evidence that they contributed towards the landmark report which set the framework for Te Pae Ora and then the full health and disability systems review that took place that endorsed the same findings and recommendations of the Waitangi Tribunal.Because you see we have unacceptable Māori health inequalities. We suffer from institutional racism within the machine. The general health system has not improved Māori health outcomes. Approaches to design purchasing and contracting of health services have only worsened health inequalities.Yet within a day and a half we have heard no plan. We have just heard a repeal a whakakāhore a whakakoretake ana i Te Aka Whai Ora. Ngā kaimahi ngā kaumātua ngā tohunga i tohua tērā rōpū kia tū motuhake mō te hauora o te Iwi Māori. E whakakāhore ana i tēnei pire motuhake te Rōpū Kākāriki. Kāhore te Rōpū Kākāriki e tautoko ana. Me tū rangatira mō te hauora Māori; me tū motuhake tēnei mea Te Aka Whai Ora ahakoa ngā mahi a tēnei Kāwanatanga. Me pupuri tonu i tērā mauri.[We have just heard a repeal an abolishment a negation of the purpose of the Māori Health Authority. The Green Party opposes this bill. The Green Party is not in support. We need to stand nobly for Māori health; this thing the Māori Health Authority should stand independently despite the actions of this Government. That life force should be maintained.]Last night the Waitangi Tribunal at 6 o'clock—you see because I'm watching the tribunal all the time. They confirmed that their jurisdiction had now ended; that they could not hold the urgent inquiry into the disestablishment of Te Aka Whai Ora. It's now vacated. All that time and energy from our claimants our hapū our hauora Māori our health leadership that contributed e whakakoretake ana i ērā kaikōrero [they are negating those speakers]—their work their contributions to uphold and share again as they had previously done on Wai 2575. They were doing it on replay—press replay we're doing it again—because that's how important Te Aka Whai Ora is to te Iwi Māori. So I stand frustrated I stand angry and I feel ripped off for the people of New Zealand and te Iwi Māori.In discussions and dialogue with Kahurangi Tureiti Moxon—she's famous you know. On Breakfast TV yesterday she shared about how important it was for Te Aka Whai Ora to exist; that we might have rima paihēneti—this little 5 percent of a budget to do something and have control over it; that we might have the ability to exercise our rangatiratanga over a tiny space of Vote Health. But instead she shared on Breakfast TV yesterday well we're being plonked right back in where we started and in fact into a system that's not working for Māori and hasn't worked for Māori and will never work for Māori.Because you see we were never asked if Te Aka Whai Ora should be disestablished. Nā wai i teka kua tū he hui? Kei hea ngā hui ki roto i Te Taitokerau mō tēnei kaupapa? Kahore.[Who lied that there were meetings held? Where were the meetings in Northland about this topic? There were none.] Just because you campaigned on a kaupapa doesn't mean that te Iwi Māori gives you the whakaae [permission] to go ahead and disestablish this institution of rangatiratanga hauora Māori nei [Māori health sovereignty].So I have to ask the Minister his officials and the Government: why do you believe that mainstream has the solutions for te Iwi Māori? Why do you believe that we should be plonked right back into a system that has deprived us of thriving lives and only increased health inequalities for the people of te Iwi Māori let alone our tāngata whaikaha let alone our rainbow communities let alone migrants and immigrants and our refugees?I keep thinking of our kaimahi and I worry for them because will they get pay parity when they go into mainstream? Will our kaimahi be recognised for those skills that they have? Because you see they're specialists and they left Te Whatu Ora for Te Aka Whai Ora and other mainstream institutions to be steely-eyed focused on hauora Māori. So will they receive the gentle care that they so deserve?I heard from a cousin last night who works in Te Whatu Ora and he shared how hard it was working in mainstream being the one Māori in the team and the battle it is for him to articulate Ao Māori perspectives in a mainstream machine that really considers us all New Zealanders. Yet on our wards we need whānau who can care and that's why I think our kaimahi from Te Aka Whai Ora are so important. They sit in our hospitals. They are not a bureaucracy. Less than 300 kaimahi e tātou mā. Let's not use the "This is a bureaucracy a Māori bureaucracy". It isn't. It's less than 300 kaimahi. Riana Manuel he taonga mō te Iwi Māori he pou whirinaki mō te hauora Māori.[Riana Manuel a treasure for the Māori people a pillar of support for Māori health.]She comes with a whakapapa and a legacy of achievement of advocacy and knowledge of the health sector let alone her mātauranga Māori that she brings from Pare Hauraki. Riana stood at Healing Our Spirit Worldwide international indigenous conference last year in Canada and she was our Aotearoa keynote. You know how proud te Iwi Māori was standing alongside Riana and singing "Ka Pioioi" for her? Because on the international stage Te Aka Whai Ora means something—Te Aka Whai Ora meant something in that gathering of 5000 indigenous people. Yet we have a Government that doesn't care—it doesn't care about the institution of Te Aka Whai Ora and this māreikura Riana Manuel who will lose her job and where will she fit as the leader that she is in hauora Māori? As her kaimahi reach out to me and say "Please protect Riana. She is inspiring. We need her. We cannot lose her." we have failed voted down. We could have deleted the clause and enabled her to lift and shift into the new machine the 80000plus strong workforce and let her be the leader that she is and pay her what she is worth too—just saying. Chris Luxon has shared he wants Te Ao Māori to thrive and when Māori do well all New Zealanders do well. Well show us the plan—show us the plan e tātou mā. Kia ora tātou."