Photo: Te Tiratū Iwi Māori Partnership Board Co-chair Hagen Tautari
TVNZ’s Te Karere has aired a powerful segment on a new report from the Te Tiratū Iwi Māori Partnership Board, describing it as a “confronting wake-up call” for Aotearoa’s health system. The Board’s first-ever health system monitoring report reveals that Māori are still dying seven years earlier than non-Māori, with many of those deaths preventable.
The story highlights long waits, high costs, unsafe care, and poor screening rates as signs of a system that continues to fail Māori. “All of us, in particular with government, they need to ensure that the funding is adequate to protect our people,” said a Board representative. “We (Iwi Māori Partnership Boards) are not an add-on—we’re there to ensure our people are represented,” co-chair Hagen Tautari said.
The Board’s message is clear: honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi, or more Māori lives will be lost. The report calls on the government to trust whānau voices, back kaupapa Māori solutions, and meet their legal obligations under the Pae Ora Act.