Te Tiriti
Latest | Media coverage | Commentary | Academic Literature | Legislation | Reports and Government Documents
Monitoring how the health reforms and the performance of the health sector uphold Te Tiriti obligations and how they reflect, advance, and challenge the relationship between Tangata Whenua and the Crown.
Latest
Media coverage
Immunisation rates: Bay of Plenty, Lakes Māori children lag behind Europeans
Limited healthcare facilities and lack of transport options are barriers for Māori tamariki getting their childhood vaccinations, a senior university lecturer says.
Māori question lack of targeted funding in 2025 Budget
Māori are questioning a lack of targeted funding for Māori in this year's Budget.
Māori leaders give disappointed reaction to ‘yeah-nah’ Budget
Dubbed the ‘yeah-nah Budget' for Māori by members of the Opposition, the Government’s announcement yesterday has attracted strong criticism over the cuts made to Māori-focused initiatives and pay equity claims.
Commentary
No accident government health plan ignores needs of Māori
Last month’s announcements covered a health sector delivery plan, governance, “partnerships”, telemedicine, primary care funding, workforce (overseas-trained doctors, more training placements for doctors and nurse practitioners, incentives for primary care practices to recruit nurses), and lowering the age for free bowel cancer screening.
Former PM Bill English on fixing the health system, Auckland iwi Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei leading way
English thinks funding is only part of the story – it’s accountability for how that money gets spent that is the challenge.
Hope remains for backtrack on bowel screening: Sir Collin Tukuitonga
The failure of multiple governments to address inequities in bowel cancer screening has led to “the potentially avoidable death of thousands of New Zealanders”, says a New Zealand Medical Journal editorial.
Academic Literature
Te Oranga Pūkahukahu research programme: intentional steps towards a national equity-focused lung cancer screening programme in Aotearoa New Zealand
Screening of at-risk, asymptomatic people can significantly reduce mortality from lung cancer. However, evidence about how to optimise lung cancer screening for specific populations, including Aotearoa New Zealand’s Indigenous Māori, who experience disproportionately higher rates of lung cancer, is needed to ensure that a future lung screening programme in Aotearoa New Zealand is equitable.
Reclaiming Indigenous systems of healing: experiences of disabled Māori of Māori-centric health service responses in Aotearoa New Zealand during the COVID-19 pandemic
This study provides a novel and solid foundation for comprehending how healthcare can be realigned to cater to the requirements of disabled Indigenous populations.
The potential of a population register for addressing health inequities: an observational study using data linkage to improve breast cancer screening enrolment and participation in Indigenous Māori women in Aotearoa New Zealand
The data linkage approach has evidenced the benefit of a population register to facilitate equitable access to breast screening services. Further work is needed on choices of combined approaches for optimising screening uptake equitably.
Legislation and Parliament
Health Entitlement Cards Amendment Regulations 2024
The new entitlement thresholds reflect an increase of 4.66% in the New Zealand Consumers Price Index from the December 2022 quarter to the December 2023 quarter (calculated for all quarters using the New Zealand Consumers Price Index (All Groups))
Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) Act 2022
The purpose of this Act is to provide for the public funding and provision of services in order to—
(a) protect, promote, and improve the health of all New Zealanders; and
(b) achieve equity in health outcomes among New Zealand’s population groups, including by striving to eliminate health disparities, in particular for Māori; and
(c) build towards pae ora (healthy futures) for all New Zealanders.
Reports and Government Documents
Health Delivery Plan
This plan is the updated reset plan and summarises the work done to date and a roadmap of activities and deliverables to the end of the 2026 financial year. It includes a plan on a page.
HE PĀNUI WHAKAHAU A TE MANA WHAKAHAERE KAIWHAKAWĀ D STONE MEMORANDUM-DIRECTIONS OF PRESIDING OFFICER JUDGE D STONE
This memorandum-direction addresses material relevant to the Health Services and Outcomes Kaupapa Inquiry (Wai 2575).
Healthy Families NZ – a decade of impact
Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora’s Healthy Families NZ is marking ten years of impact with the release of an impact report ‘Reshaping our systems for a healthier Aotearoa New Zealand’.
Key issues
HEALTH SERVICES AND SYSTEMS
EQUITY
DRUGS, DEVICE AND DIAGNOSTICS
PUBLIC HEALTH
DIGITAL HEALTH
TE TIRITI