Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is set to be welcomed to Waitangi this morning ahead of Waitangi Day events tomorrow – but Luxon and other Government representatives including David Seymour and Winston Peters won't be expecting a free pass.
Scrutiny over the Government's policies related to Māori and Seymour's Treaty Principles Bill in particular is expected to take centre stage amid political debate at Waitangi this year.
The coalition's scrapping of the Māori Health Authority has also been met with resistance.
Māori health advocate and chairwoman of the National Urban Māori Authority Lady Tureiti Moxon told Breakfast this morning: "Last year, as part of the Government's 100-day plan, they decided they were going to disestablish Te Aka Whai Ora [the Māori Health Authority]."
She said Māori had been "very happy" with the authority.
Later in the interview, Moxon said Waitangi was an opportunity to challenge "anti-Māori" and "racist" policies.
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti has described the Māori authority as a failure of "more bureaucracy". He said the Government would instead "have a strong Māori health directorate inside the Ministry of Health".
Moxon strongly disagreed with this approach.
"What we wanted for our own health, and how we wanted to look after ourselves and what we wanted to do, to be part of the planning, to be part of the co-designing, to be part of the monitoring," Moxon said. "All of those things.
"Which we hadn't really had a lot to do with in previous systems.
"The whole thing around Te Aka Whai Ora and Whatu Ora was transformational change in the health system because previous to that, the health system wasn't working for a lot of Māori."
The move has led to a claim being filed before the Waitangi Tribunal.
"The Waitangi Tribunal came back and said, yes, we meet the criteria for an urgent hearing, and gave the Crown until the 31st of January to respond to a number of questions that they put to them around consultation with Māori, around how long it would take before legislation would be passed, what they had in mind to replace Te Aka Whai Ora," Moxon said.
"All of those questions — but they didn't come back and answer any of them."
She said it was "unacceptable" that the Government wouldn't respect the Tribunal's jurisdiction.
"They have the jurisdiction to look into any policy, to look into any act that is in breach of te Tiriti o Waitangi.
"You can't be just getting rid of Te Aka Whai Ora and then just saying, 'Oh well, we'll just assimilate you back into what we've always had and what has never worked for Māori at any point in time'," she said.
"But that's the response that was given to the Waitangi Tribunal and to all of us.
"Māori are not subservient, Māori are a partner to the Crown. Iwi are a partner to the Crown."
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