Raced-Based Health: NZ Government Moves to Abolish Maori Health Authority

The authority was set up to enable Māori people to have greater control of their health outcomes and prioritisation of services.

Maori Party co-leader Rawiri Waititi speaks to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon during the State Opening of Parliament in Wellington, New Zealand on Dec. 6, 2023. Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images

New Zealand government coalition’s ACT party has issued notice to abolish a separate health authority that was set up to meet the health needs of indigenous people.

In the lead-up to the 2023 general election ACT campaigned to get rid of the Authority, with party leader David Seymour saying: “The Māori Health Authority experiment has been disastrous, and that’s why we will end it.”