Ngarewa-Packer Debbie; Little AndrewDEBBIE NGAREWA-PACKER (Co-Leader—Te Paati Māori): Thank you Chair and thank you Minister Little for receiving questions. I have limited time so it's going to come out as a shopping list—not intended.So a couple of questions. The first thing is as you know Māori have the worst outcomes for all cancers other than melanoma. Will the Government commit to immediately funding more accessible cancer screening for Māori including human papilloma virus self-testing kits and lowering the cancer screening age for Māori by 10 years to reflect the shorter life expectancy?The next question—Pharmac. The annual review of Pharmac showed that $50 less is being spent per person for Māori than non-Māori. What is the Minister doing to address inequity in Pharmac funding for Māori and to improve Māori access to lifesaving pharmaceuticals?The third question—mental health. Will the Government adopt He Ara Oranga's recommendations in suicide reduction and invest in a targeted approach to suicide prevention for Māori?The fourth Minister—we are extremely supportive of Te Tiriti - focused Māori Health Authority this Government is taking. You've already said it will have legislative powers to act as an independent voice. Will the new Māori Health Authority have budgetary control?And our final question please Minister—racism. What will the Minister do to protect Māori from the backlash of racism when establishing the Māori Health Authority and asserting tino rangatiratanga in Aotearoa? Kia ora. Thank you.Hon ANDREW LITTLE (Minister of Health): Kia ora to Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. Thank you for those rapid-fire questions. I will respond to them as quickly as I can.Just on the last question: what am I going to do about the potential for a racist backlash? Keep arguing the case. Keep asserting the point. I'm very confident that what Peeni Henare and I have come up with as a vision for New Zealand health—Hon Aupito William Sio: Change leadership on that side.Hon ANDREW LITTLE: —is the right thing for New Zealand. We've got support from this side of the House and I hear the member expressing support. We have to do this because in the 21st century 181 years from the Treaty we start to fulfil the Crown's obligations and we can all do that together. So you have my commitment. I'm standing firm and fast alongside my colleague Peeni Henare.In relation to cancer treatments for Māori I don't want to concern the member unduly but we have a Budget coming up and the Budget will lay out specific proposals whether it's for the Minister of Health or Pharmac and there will be measures in relation to that and the member will see what is in there.In relation to the second question about Pharmac—and the member is absolutely right Pharmac spends $50 per person less on Māori on average than for other New Zealanders. That is unfair. So that is an issue that Pharmac is now actively addressing in the way it makes its decisions and it's a fact that I expect the current review to also be considering when it considers its recommendations for future decision making by Pharmac.The next question about mental health and particularly suicide reduction for Māori—the member is correct that there is an elevated risk for Māori particularly for young Māori. That is why part of the suicide prevention and postvention programme is initiated specifically for Māori. So there's already specific funding gone out to kaupapa Māori services dealing with those dealing with suicide prevention and dealing with the suicide bereaved and that obviously will continue.Finally in relation to the Māori Health Authority—what might the budget be? I'll just reassure the member that that is work that is under way now because one of the things we have to do is look at current funding models. What has become apparent and it was referred to in the Health and Disability System Review is that current funding formulas are too blunt to take account of levels of disadvantage socio-economic disadvantage race disadvantage and other measures that we need to rethink as we put together funding formulas for the future health system.