Salesa Jenny; Reti ShaneHon JENNY SALESA (Labour—Panmure-Ōtāhuhu): Thank you so much Madam Chair. Kia ora koutou. E te Māngai o te Whare thank you for this opportunity to take a call on the Pae Ora (Disestablishment of Māori Health Authority) Amendment Bill. Before I do I would like to acknowledge my friend and colleague Fa'anānā Efeso Collins. It was around about this time last week that we all were shocked and are still in disbelief about the sudden passing of Fa'anānā Efeso Collins someone who I've known for over 30 years; a son of Samoa a strong advocate for Māori and a strong advocate for South Auckland. I know that if Fa'anānā Efeso Collins were still here he would be in this Chamber debating this bill because this is one of those things that he was a strong advocate for. If I could just say one of the things we know about young Māori men including young Māori Pacific—many of us have Māori in our blood as well because the mix between the Māori Pacific is quite prominent right now—is too many of our people die very young. We die younger. Māori die younger than general New Zealanders. I would like to just acknowledge just how much of a leader Fa'anānā Efeso Collins was and how much of a strong leader he was.Thank you for the opportunity to discuss this bill. One of the things that I actually have as a person who worked in the health sector—and this will age me—is I worked in an organisation called North Health in Auckland in Tāmaki-makau-rau which was established in the 80s. During that time North Health was the funder which actually funded by Māori for Māori" health services for the first time. Te Whānau o Waipareira in 1984 was funded by North Health. It was under the leadership of Sir Rob Cooper and Gwen Tepania-Palmer. One of the reasons why "by Māori for Māori" health services was created was because as a country Aotearoa New Zealand we did not know how to serve Māori people in the right way. The inequity that was then in the 1980s and actually going back to the 1840s—we still see such a huge disparity between Māori and non-Māori. The reason why "by Māori for Māori" was funded was because there was the hope that at some point in the future they would be better served.Sam Uffindell: How does this relate to Part 2?Hon JENNY SALESA: Can I say that my questions to the Minister—I will come back to the bill. I would like to ask questions of the Minister about Part 2—clause 41 of new Part 2 to Schedule 1—which is about employment being continuous for the purpose of certain entitlements. My specific question is basically—I would like the Minister to outline this—what are the transitions that are in place for current employees of the Māori Health Authority following its disestablishment? This is important because we also need to highlight the welfare of those Te Aka Whai Ora employees the Māori Health Authority employees who are currently working right now. When they are being transitioned to Health New Zealand there is also that issue of ensuring that they are actually served quite well. The second question for the Minister is: what specific support measures will be implemented to support these affected employees that are being disestablished in terms of Te Aka Whai Ora? Third question: how will the Minister plan to maintain and enhance Māori health initiatives and outcomes without specialised focus provided by the Māori Health Authority in terms of employment and in terms of ensuring project continuity? Because the Māori Health Authority are the ones that actually hold the contracts with "by Māori for Māori" health providers. How do we assure as a country the services at the end of the day? Because we are in here to serve our people. How do we ensure that those services continue that the welfare of the staff is actually enhanced and continues on as they transfer to Health New Zealand? Thank you Madam Chair.Hon Dr SHANE RETI (Minister of Health): Thank you Madam Chair. To address some of those questions—the member raised the question of transfer of staff to the Ministry of Health and Health New Zealand—I've already described in my first and second reading speeches the hopes I have that staff will "join me and guide me in the pathway forward for Māori health and Māori health outcomes". I have a very clear hope that what we're proposing here is something that they can say: "I want to be a part of that; I believe in the outcomes. This is a different way to what I was anticipating but I want to be a part of that". The member raised the question of legislative compliance using the example of disability and clearly in her own words said Health New Zealand will still be consulted. So remember the parts of the Māori Health Authority—the substantial operational parts—will still transfer to Health New Zealand. So of course they'll still be consulted. That expertise will still be there. To the last member who asked the question—it had already been covered several times previously—the first question: existing terms and conditions transfer across. As I've said before the Māori Health directorate inside the Ministry of Health will have input into the appropriate transfer of people into the two respective homes. I'm very focused on continuity of services. That's really important. We're going to pick up from the learnings that we've had and advance them forward. It's really important we've got that continuity. On one level the $50 million immunisation project that we announced before Christmas is an example of that."