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# Dr Shane Reti – Healthcare Should Prioritise Need, Not Race
- URL: https://goodoil.news/dr-shane-reti-healthcare-should-prioritise-need-not-race/
- Published: 2021-05-04T19:45:00.000Z
- Updated: 2024-07-19T17:05:44.000Z
- Author: Press Releases
- Tags: Health, NZ, NZ Politics, Politics, Press Releases, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2024-07-17 02:14

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/31/f4/31f4e20a-0315-499e-83ff-139e8eab53bf/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/dr-shane-reti.png)

The Government’s proposed Maori Health Authority is simply not about generating better health outcomes for Maori, Deputy Leader of the Opposition **Dr Shane Reti** says.

“In Question Time, the Prime Minister and the Minister of Health both rejected the need for a Pasifika Health Authority despite the government’s own documents showing health disparities experienced by Pasifika people are comparable to those experienced by Maori.

> “It can be reasonably concluded therefore, that their interpretation of Treaty obligations are what is driving the two-system plan.

“Reasonable people can interpret the Treaty in different ways. If Labour is interpreting the Treaty to mean we have an obligation to co-governance of core services like health, or as documents show, a veto for the Maori Health Authority, this is a significant departure from where we’ve been in the past and something that needs open and mature public discussion.

> *“The risk we see, is that if today the Treaty means we need a separate health system, tomorrow it could mean we need a separate justice system just as* He Puapua *is describing.*

“The language for health reforms needs to be the language of improved health outcomes and that starts with a principled “needs” based approach.

“Speaking as a medical professional, it is worrying that the Minister wouldn’t give a clear answer in the house around GP consultations under these reforms, where one part of a consultation could be for the Maori Health Authority and another part for Health NZ.

“GPs simply want to do the best job for patients with the greatest need without a huge paperwork burden.”

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