Act leader David Seymour yesterday outlined plans for a “colourblind’ health system that involves scrapping the Māori Health Authority, Te Aka Whai Ora, and ending the use of race to prioritise surgical waitlists. 

“There is no justification for the public healthcare system to assign care based on ethnicity. It is lazy, divisive and doesn’t address the core problems at the heart of the health system. Act will stop dividing healthcare by race,” Seymour said. 

National has also promised to scrap Te Aka Whai Ora and the use of race to prioritise surgical waitlists, with the party’s health spokesman Dr Shane Reti calling it “offensive and wrong” and saying it should be halted immediately. 

Seymour yesterday doubled down on the party’s opposition to separate health systems for Māori, saying the emphasis on health should be fitting services to every New Zealander, and saying Act “will demand that the public health sector is colourblind, but highly focused on eliminating inequity”. 

Māori health has been a hot topic during the election campaign. 

“The Māori Health Authority experiment has been disastrous, and that’s why we will end it. The Māori Health Authority has sacked half its board, failed to hire critical skills because it’s too focused on hiring based on race, wasted half a billion dollars, failed to deliver better healthcare, and created resentment and division among New Zealanders. 

“A person who is in great clinical need, has waited a long time, lives far from major medical facilities, and is poor could be Māori, European, Pacific, Indian or Chinese, and they should all be treated equally,” he said. 

Seymour said Act would also stop pharmacy initiatives only accessible to Māori and Pasifika, and end taxpayer-funded freebies – like Prezzy cards for pregnant Māori women. 

“The Community Pharmacy Minor Ailments Service allows pharmacies in selected areas to consult and provide treatment aids for a range of common, uncomplicated conditions which can be diagnosed and managed without medical intervention. The catch is that eligibility for the service is based on race. 

Healthcare should be colourblind, says Act. 

“Rationing healthcare by race doesn’t address the causes of poor health, it’s just a sop to make Labour politicians feel like they’re doing something. The only thing race-based healthcare delivers is resentment and division. 

“It should not lazily assume all Māori mothers need to be bribed to look after their pepe, nor should it assume all non-Māori are less in need. Some are, some aren’t. Act is opposed to racial discrimination because it’s a lazy and divisive way of treating people.” 

He said Act would address the causes of poor health outcomes, by investing in education, by making it easier to build affordable housing, and by properly funding healthcare.