The Coalition Government must urgently adopt new recommendations from the Waitangi Tribunal which has found significant parts of the disability system prejudice tāngata whaikaha Māori (Māori with disabilities), NZNO says.
The Tribunal yesterday released Hauwhaikaha - the Disability System Report and its response to Wai 2713, the Māori Nurses Claim brought by Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa NZNO Kaiwhakahaere Kerri Nuku and honorary member Hineraumoa Te Apatu on behalf of Te Rūnanga o Aotearoa.
It found that tāngata whaikaha Māori receive culturally unsafe services that do not adequately respond to them as both Māori and disabled.
Kerri Nuku says the report found significant parts of the disability system continue to prejudice tāngata whaikaha Māori and fail to adequately provide for tino rangatiratanga, partnership, equity, culturally appropriate care and Māori participation in decision making.
"This is a damning indictment on the Crown which has seen clinical competency prioritised over cultural competency and that attendance at occasional cultural competency training does not necessarily translate into culturally safe practice," she says.
"The tribunal found several breaches concerning claims related to three specific groups: Tāngata Turi (Māori deaf community), Kāpō Māori (blind or visually impaired), and those with Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD).
Kerri Nuku says the Government must urgently adopt the Tribunal’s recommendations relating to Wai 2713:
- Viable, co-designed Māori-Crown partnership arrangements, including formal Māori involvement in the design and delivery of the disability system;
- Stronger Māori participation in governance, co-governance and co-management;
- Stronger monitoring and accountability for cultural safety and cultural competency;
- Public monitoring of inequitable outcomes for tāngata whaikaha Māori;
- Explicit incorporation of te Tiriti and equity obligations into Crown service contracts; and
- Replacement of the former Te Aka Whai Ora monitoring function, including monitoring of health services delivered in prisons.
"The Coalition Government has a track record of dismissing cultural safety as ideology, but this report shows that such attitudes harm tāngata whaikaha Māori," Kerri Nuku says.