Two MPs took a photo, then debated whether they could take credit for breast cancer policy

Tuesday, 30 June 2026

Four coalition ministers have now questioned claims made by Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke, suggesting she is taking credit for work she was not involved in.

Minister for Women Nicola Grigg says the MP had never talked to her about breast cancer screening policies, despite the MP saying she’d been supporting the minister.

Maipi-Clarke has already had to delete one post, in which she claimed to spend 65% of her time supporting and visiting young people in prisons.

A Te Pāti Māori MP is again being accused of taking credit for work she hasn’t been involved in.

But this time, Stuff has been shown evidence the minister did engage with the MP Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke about the issue.

Minister for Women Nicola Grigg claims she never spoke with Maipi-Clarke about breast cancer screening before the MP posted a photo of them both.

Maipi-Clarke denies this. Her office has released an email showing the MPs discussing access to mammograms, the day before Maipi-Clarke made the post.

Under former health minister Shane Reti, the Government increased funding for breast screening so that women aged up to 74 would be able to access free screening. The funding was delivered mid-2024, with a gradual policy implementation starting in October 2025.

In mid-June, Maipi-Clarke posted a photo with Minister for Women Nicola Grigg saying she had been “supporting the minister for women in extending fully funded breast screening from age 69 to 74”.

Grigg told Stuff she had never spoken to Maipi-Clarke about the Government’s policy for breast screening.

However, the email did show she told Maipi-Clarke the Government had “made good on an election year commitment to extend the upper age”. In the post, Maipi-Clarke said she supported that.

She is pushing for the Government to lower the screening age, from 45 to 40 years old.

Grigg said she posed with Maipi-Clarke after the Pāti Māori MP asked for a photo, but she didn’t know what it was going to be used for.

“I can confirm neither me nor my office have ever had any contact from Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke on extending the breast screening programme,” Grigg said.

“Hana contacted me about having a photo taken, but she did not specify what it was for.”

A spokesperson for Health Minister Simeon Brown also said Maipi-Clarke had never been in touch with his office to discuss extending the programme.

Grigg and Brown are the third and fourth coalition ministers to question the claims Maipi-Clarke has made to voters, claiming credit for work they say she hasn’t been involved with.

As Stuff reported last week, Maipi-Clarke was forced to delete a post in which she claimed to spend “65%” of her time advocating for jailed rangatahi. She said she had visited young people in prisons and Oranga Tamariki youth justice facilities.

The office of Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell said Maipi-Clarke has only ever visited a prison once since becoming an MP.

And Children’s Minister Karen Chhour said Maipi-Clarke had never visited, or asked to visit, a youth justice facility. She accused the Pāti Māori MP of “telling porkies” about how much work she did for vulnerable young people.

Stuff has approached Maipi-Clarke for comment on both of these posts, but she hasn’t responded. She deleted the post about helping vulnerable rangatahi last week, after being approached for comment. And on Monday, she slightly edited the post to say she was “giving her full support to the minister”.

The original post said: “An announcement I’ve been working on since last year … supporting the minister for women in extending fully funded breast screening from age 69 to 74.”

She said her “next goal” was to lower the breast screening age to 40.

According to Hansard, the record of Parliament’s debates, Maipi-Clarke has never discussed breast cancer screening in the House.

During the 2024 Budget debate, which funded this work, she said: “I’m not here to talk about the Budget, because ‘What Budget?’ There’s nothing in it for us.”

How breast screening was extended

In 2023, the former Labour Government was under pressure from the Breast Cancer Foundation after it rejected a petition to increase the screening age to 74.

Former prime minister Jacinda Ardern had, seven years earlier, accepted a petition to do just that. But Labour said there were not enough radiologists and medical imaging technologists to increase the age.

Before the 2023 election, Reti introduced a private member’s bill to extend the age of screening.

He told Stuff he had, maybe one passing “corridor conversation” with Te Pāti Māori while he was trying to get this policy through. At the time, Maipi-Clarke was not an MP.

During the campaign, as National’s health spokesperson, Reti promised to extend eligibility and he secured funding to do so in 2024.