Bills to disestablish Māori Health Authority, Smokefree to be passed under urgency
Tuesday, 27 February 2024
Parliament will today attempt to pass all three stages of a bill that would disestablish Te Aka Whai Ora - the Māori Health Authority.
A bill to repeal the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Smoked Tobacco) Amendment Bill will also be introduced today.
An urgent Waitangi Tribunal hearing into the Te Aka Whai Ora bill set for Thursday will no longer proceed, but the tribunal will inquire into the Crown’s actions once passed into law.
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti has confirmed Parliament will today attempt to pass all three stages of his bill to disestablish Te Aka Whai Ora - the Māori Health Authority.
A bill that will repeal the Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Smoked Tobacco) Amendment Bill, will also be introduced today.
This comes as the Waitangi Tribunal was set to undertake an urgent hearing from February 29 to March 1 to critique the Te Aka Whai Ora Bill, and another hearing was sought by claimants wanting the tribunal’s recommendations on Smokefree Law repeals.
However, the tribunal has no authority to consider issues before Parliament, meaning the tribunal’s jurisdiction will end before the hearings even begin.
Reti told reporters that the move was not in bad faith, stating the tribunal will be able to critique the legislation once the bill passes.
“We’ve had this on the table for years now, there’s been discussions, I’ve discussed it nearly every week,” he said.
Reti said funding for Te Aka Whai Ora will remain within Māori health.
“While we don’t disagree with our destination, it’s just the journey that gets there.”
Te Pāti Māori have written to the speaker of the house, requesting an urgent debate around the Government’s use of urgency.
“The government’s use and abuse of urgency has created a dictatorship in what should be a Tiriti-led democratic state,” Te Pāti Maori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer said.
“The executive has destroyed public, judicial and legislative oversight and participation. Urgency has been used in every sitting week of the 2024 sitting year - it is an abuse of Government’s power.
“Urgency deprives both legislators and the public of adequate time for scrutiny and deliberation on significant legislative measures such as the disestablishment of the Māori Health Authority and abolishment of smokefree legislation.
“In addition, a pre-dated hearing had been scheduled by the Waitangi Tribunal into the disestablishment of Te Aka Whai Ora. Tabling of the bill ahead of the hearing defeats judicial scrutiny.”
Co-claimant of the Māori Health Authority claim, Lady Tureiti Moxon, said the move would not be the end of the matter.
“It’s not unexpected that the Crown would table the bill before Parliament only days out from the Waitangi Tribunal hearing,” she said.
“Legally this continues to remain a live issue because the Waitangi Tribunal will inquire into the actions of the Crown following the passing of the legislation,” Moxon said.
Waitangi Tribunal chairperson Judge Damian Stone confirmed the tribunal would inquire into both the actions once passed into law.