Belich Camilla; Reti ShaneCAMILLA BELICH (Labour): Thank you Mr Chair. It's my first opportunity to take a call in this debate and I'm pleased to be able to do so and as you've requested cover some points which I don't think have been traversed fully in Part 1 which is the substantive part of this amendment bill. The area that I really wanted to cover is first of all just to make a comment that fundamentally the case for the Māori Health Authority is met through an evidence base. There are very few groups in society where you can say that there is a higher mortality rate a higher infant mortality rate higher rates of smoking higher rates of diabetes and higher rates of the less effectiveness of some medications. I was particularly struck when visiting the University of Auckland and actually hearing that some of the medications that are developed are less effective on some populations than on others because they're not tested on those populations and that does apply to Māori and Pasifika people. The actual medicine that we're developing is not as effective. So there is so much for the Māori Health Authority to do and so much less clarity on the role of this body that the Minister seeks to establish. In Part 1 which we are now on one of the most important and substantive sections which I don't think has been looked at as much as it could have been is the amendment to section 6 in clause 6 which looks at the repeal of part of Te Tiriti o Waitangi—the Treaty of Waitangi—provisions of the Act. My colleague Arena Williams as she said in her contribution in this committee stage has raised 40 amendments to Part 1 and the substantive number of those amendments relate to clause 6 which goes through—and in her particular amendment she has deleted particular clauses in the amendment bill which we're looking at which then relate to the primary piece of legislation the Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) Act. I hope the Minister has a copy of that Act because that is really the substance of my colleague Arena Williams' amendments to it. So if you look at her amendments essentially what she is suggesting to the Minister—and my question to the Minister is: does he agree that there is some value in including these clauses in the legislation as it moves forward in relation to the new committee that he's setting up and the new regime that he's setting up to look at Māori health? The main things that Ms Williams wants to include in this section which I agree with are a whole lot of Māori strategy jointly prepared by the Māori Health Authority and the ministry—so retaining that particular functionality in those two groups. It's also looking at retaining section 6(h) of the Pae Ora legislation which requires Health New Zealand and the Māori Health Authority to engage with iwi-Māori partnership boards. It's requiring Health New Zealand and the Māori Health Authority to jointly develop and implement a New Zealand health plan and to work together in the performance of specified functions of Health New Zealand and most importantly a really fundamentally important part of the Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) Act which established the Māori Health Authority is section 6(j) which looks at the particular experience of the people who are making these decisions for Māori. If we look comparatively at the new piece of legislation that the Minister is introducing it does focus in the main on ministerial appointments and those who are perhaps favoured by the Government of the day. Conversely the piece of legislation which the Minister is seeking to repeal through the passage of this legislation looks at the knowledge and experience and expertise that the people on the Māori Health Authority would have on Te Tiriti o Waitangi tikanga Māori mātauranga Māori kaupapa Māori services cultural safety and responsiveness of services. So that clause is being deleted repealed by the section that we're looking at in clause 6. So my question to the Minister is this. I think and I hope that we can all agree that that particular range of expertise is very important. So how is that going to be reflected in the new body which is to be established? I also note that this primary piece of legislation the Pae Ora piece of legislation implements the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. It was passed democratically by this House where everyone had a say on who was implementing the laws and that is why it is a part of our law which I think is an important point to remember. Hon Dr SHANE RETI (Minister of Health): Thank you Mr Chair. I thank the member for those questions. At 19.41 Grant Robertson was the third speaker on clause 6. This is now the fourth and I've already indicated how we would meet our obligations under clause 6 so I don't have anything further to say on that at this point.