Lyndon HūhanaHŪHANA LYNDON (Green): I stand in this House wearing the kākahu taratara of te Rōpū Kākāriki as we mourn the loss of our dear friend and colleague Fa'anānā Efeso Collins. I pay tribute to him today and to my matua Mikaere Povey tamaiti of Dame Naida Glavish who also fell on that same day. They were far too young and taken too soon.Nō reira moe mai rā. Hoki mai anō ki a tātou ngā waihotanga iho a rātou mā tēnā koutou tēnā koutou kia ora tātou katoa.[So rest in peace. I return now to us who have been left behind by them greetings greetings and thanks to us all.]I stand on behalf of te Rōpū Kākāriki to speak on the Pae Ora (Disestablishment of Māori Health Authority) Amendment Bill. Today is day one of the recolonisation of hauora Māori in Aotearoa New Zealand. Why? Because this Government is scrapping Te Aka Whai Ora the Māori Health Authority. As Janice Kuka the lead claimant in the current Waitangi Tribunal urgency in the disestablishment for Te Aka Whai Ora shared this is the closest model of tino rangatiratanga in hauora Māori in history.Today we stand outraged that this Government would seek to scrap an organisation which was established through the important work of the 2019 Wai 2575 Health Service and Outcomes Kaupapa Inquiry and the full Health and Disability System Review that took place in 2019 and 2020 which included the DHBs health providers community and stakeholders. This review reinforced the Waitangi Tribunal findings and set the scene for the major changes required. The review confirmed that Aotearoa has unacceptable Māori health inequities. We have institutional racism. The general health system has not improved Māori health outcomes and approaches to design purchasing and contracting of health services have worsened these inequalities. We now have a Government who wants to send us back to the future moving a focused independent hauora Māori voice back into the mainstream machine known as Te Whatu Ora.E te Minita Hauora kei hea te tino rangatiratanga o tēnā? [To the Minister of Health where is the sovereignty in that?] We've heard the Minister share in the media that the disestablishment of Te Aka Whai Ora will be done gently with great care and great respect and that the Government wants to propose an alternative that is more effective and that will deliver outcomes that Māori need. Where are the gentle hands of this Government? What engagement has this Government undertaken with te Iwi Māori and hauora Māori on the proposal to scrap Te Aka Whai Ora? Did Māori tell you that we need this? The Government is proposing that this legislation will come through the House under urgency—and we're here right now—but where is the justice and due process for our people to have input? Where are the gentle hands in allowing the urgent claim before the Waitangi Tribunal scheduled for this Thursday and Friday to be heard—now undermined by this Government? Nā wai i teka this Government supports te tino rangatiratanga o te iwi Māori ki roto i ngā take hauora? E kī e kī. [Who lied that this Government supports the sovereignty of the Māori people in health issues? Well really.]There is no respect of this Government who actively silences the thousands of voices that contributed the establishment of Te Aka Whai Ora further oppressing te Iwi Māori when it comes to our hauora solutions. We have heard from the Minister of Health that Te Aka Whai Ora is a bureaucracy managed out of Wellington. I argue that Te Aka Whai Ora is a really small workforce—not even 300 kaimahi. And it's not centrally driven as a bureaucracy but rather a group of committed health professionals connected to kāinga based largely in the regions and in hospitals who are focused on improving Māori health outcomes. The Pae Ora legislation provides the road map that was heralded as a game-changer in fixing a public health system that for far too long had failed Māori and many others in our community—we had been left out.There is a strong feeling in our kāinga and within iwi that we've been ripped off by this Government. Disestablishing Te Aka Whai Ora now—we've never got a chance to see the waka grow and reach its full potential. Te Iwi Māori are being ripped off. This Government undermines the Waitangi Tribunal. Knowing full well that the urgency is this week I ask again: where is the justice?The Prime Minister said at Waitangi I want Te Aō Māori to thrive. When Māori [thrive] we all know [that] New Zealand [will do well as well]." Well te Iwi Māori did we consent to scrapping Te Aka Whai Ora? No we didn't. In fact this is a gross breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Kia ora."