Several Te Tiratū board members with our senior executive walked in solidarity with hundreds of whānau in the Hamilton leg of the nationwide Hīkoi for Our Health, that’s calling for urgent government action to fix Aotearoa’s failing health system.
The march, led locally by Lady Tureiti Moxon, Managing Director of Te Kōhao Health, departed from Hamilton Lake Playground to Waikato Hospital carrying the Buller Declaration on the State of the New Zealand Health System, now signed by more than 95,000 people.
Our Co-chair Glen Tupuhi, reflected on the responsibility of older generations in protecting the health system.
“It’s very important when we look around and see the rangatahi, and also the baby boomers. It is us that are breaking down. It is us that are putting pressure on the health system, and it is us that really need to fight for the retention of services and not allow this creeping privatisation,” he said.
“Exposing health to free market forces is not going to be good for us, our children, or our tamariki. Our tupuna fought to build the welfare state, and we have inherited that. It’s up to us to ensure it is handed on to the next generation.”
Brandi Hudson, our Tumu Whakarae had a similar stance, “We are here because we want to celebrate the fact that Māori are leading the way with advocacy for better health services for our whānau. We thank Lady Tureiti Moxon today for working alongside the whānau or Kirikiriroa to highlight how the resources for Māori health are failing.”
The focus for Lady Tureiti Moxon is partnership and structural change.
“Te Tiriti o Waitangi is a blueprint for partnership and accountability. When the Crown makes decisions about Māori health without Māori, that is not partnership. We need structural change. This hīkoi is about calling the Government to honour Te Tiriti and build a system designed with, by, and for our people. We walk not just for ourselves, but for our tamariki and mokopuna. For our hauora. For our future,” she said.
Malcolm Mulholland, Chair of Patient Voice Aotearoa and the national organiser, said the hīkoi sends a clear message across the country.
“New Zealanders are united in saying our health system is in crisis. We walk for those behind the statistics, those waiting in corridors, those turned away, and the health workers holding the system together. This hīkoi is our call to those in power: fix it now, before more lives are lost.”
The month-long hīkoi, which began in Westport on 1 November, retraces the path of the original Buller march that sparked this national movement.
It will reach Parliament in Pōneke on Tuesday 18 November, where thousands are expected to gather to deliver the signed Declaration to Members of Parliament. Today in Kirikiriroa, the message was one of unity, mana motuhake, and hope for a health system that values people over bureaucracy and equity over excuses.