Govt claims of equitable pandemic response 'tone deaf' - Te Pāti Māori

By Liam Brown

Te Pāti Māori says Covid-19 response minister Chris Hipkins' claims the pandemic response has been equitable is not only tone deaf, but colour blind.

Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins appeared before the Health Select Committee on Wednesday morning, where he was asked by the Māori Party co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer about why it took until February this year to stand up an equity group, which Māori health leaders had been demanding for nearly two years.

Hipkins pushed back, saying equity had been a consideration right throughout the pandemic.

"I would argue that the first 18 months to two years for the Covid response and have been some of the most pro-equity responses a New Zealand government has ever taken to any issue and I think the overall outcomes clearly demonstrate that," he said.

He stood by the assertion when questioned by media after the hearing.

"I think New Zealand's Covid-19 response has been one of the most pro-equity things that a New Zealand government has done in generations, in fact."

"The fact that we have had such a low mortality rate from Covid-19, the fact that our vulnerable communities have been protected from the worst ravages of Covid-19; I think that's something we can all be proud of as New Zealanders."

The comment follow a year in which the government has been berated for its response to the Māori and Pasifika communities, particularly in the initial vaccination rollout.

In December, the Waitangi Tribunal held an urgent inquiry into the Covid-19 response and vaccination rollout, finding that "Māori were put at a disproportionate risk of being infected by Delta."

It told that expert advice on equity was put aside for political purposes, and that Māori health providers were often sidelined, ignored and under-funded by the state until the virus was already ravaging communities.

Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi said Hipkins' comment was not only tone deaf, but colour blind.

Even in parliament's general debate hours later, Hipkins' colleague, Associate Health Minister Peeni Henare, was more contrite, particularly about the efforts of Māori health providers.

"They did it on the smell of an oily rag. They were borrowing money, or asking for money from the community simply to travel up the coast to deliver vaccines," Henare said.

"That is a sign of underinvestment in an important part of the health sector," he said. "Under this government, I'm proud to say there has been record investment in Māori health providers up and down this country."

"I'm ashamed to say that it's taken Covid for us to get there, but what I am proud to say is that as we build the health reform and the health sector that our people deserve there is going to be more opportunity for services to be delivered in our communities to the people who need it the most."