I heard over on reddit that the date for the Waitangi Tribunal hearing was set because that was when the government told them they would be putting the bill through. Then they conveniently changed their mind and moved the date up, so that the WT hearing couldn't happen before the bill passed. Seems pretty blatant to me.

[–] liv 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Yeah it's an abuse of urgency. From memory this started under Helen Clark and happens more and more. We really need more robust protections against it.

There's nothing urgent about this.

[–] Rangelus 3 points 9 months ago

Absolutely.

There are legitimate uses for passing things under urgency, but I think we need a much more robust set of rules around this so it can't be abused.

[–] Fizz 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I still don't understand what the maori health authority is. I was under the impression they were building maori hospitals to cater to a lot of the rural communities. Is this correct?

[–] liv 6 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

That's part of it but as I understand it they are meant to fund a lot of little services to stop people falling through the gaps e.g antetatal care (young Maori women have disproportionately less access to antenatal classes and care, and thus disproportionately die in childbirth).

They only got funding two years ago and have been underspending a bit but this page gives you an idea. Everything from early childcareand meningicoccal screening to home insulation to breast and prostate screening to accessible vaccination programmes to alcohol treatment and social work.

I had the impression they're kind of like Whaunau Ora, which as far as I could tell was behind establishing a lot of those little communuty trust type charities you only hear of if you're ill or disabled and/or have elderly parents who need extra help or are otherwise falling through the gaps.

Despite the spin coming out of Epsom electorate types, you don't usually have be be Maori to benefit from this stuff (it's no more segregated than the main health system, just Maori-led and uses Maori values). You just have to be in the area/rohe and need the help. My pakeha mum had a really wonderful person looking after her each week. When there was a storm coming once she phoned my mum and invited her to stay over.

[–] Rangelus 4 points 9 months ago

To add to this, Te Aka Whai Ora was established because of the consistently lower health outcomes for Maori showing that the current system clearly doesn't work for them. It is an organization which aims to bring up those health outcomes in line with the rest of New Zealanders, and as you rightly point out this benefits everyone, not just Maori.