Multiple breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi mean Māori are suffering significantly worse outcomes from the Covid-19 pandemic, the Waitangi Tribunal rules in a strong criticism of the Government.
The Waitangi Tribunal has released a scathing ruling of the government's Covid-19 response and vaccine rollout, saying Māori were put at risk and remedies are needed with 'extreme urgency'
The Tribunal held an urgent hearing early this month, and has this morning released its findings.
It says the Cabinet's decision to go against official advice and not prioritise Māori in the vaccine rollout breached the Treaty principles of active protection and equity.
The Government has said it instead opted for a whānau-centred approach.
The Tribunal, in its report, said it cannot understand why it would go for this against all expert advice.
While accepting a shift to the traffic light system was necessary, it found the rapid transition put Māori at risk.
The decision also put Māori health providers under extreme pressure on limited resource - pressure created by a delayed rollout, and years of chronic underfunding by the state.
It also said the Crown did not consistently engage with Māori to the fullest extent practicable on its pandemic response, a breach of the principle of partnership.
It recommended better ethnicity data collection, better resourcing and support for Māori providers and communities, and a more equitable rollout for booster shots and paediatric vaccines.
The Maori Council was a claimant. It said today that during the hearing the council conducted good faith discussions with the Government to find a new way for Māori led solutions to the pandemic to be supported and implemented.
"This led to an agreement to establish a new structure known as Ngā Mana Whakahare a Covid-19 (NMWC19). The NZMC remains very positive about this development and believes it can be used to address the problems identified by the tribunal. "
Its national secretary Peter Fraser said: “The decision was a complete vindication of the Māori Council’s claim. Every alleged breach has been upheld. The recommendations are completely in line with what the Māori Council put forward.”
"The Government breached its Treaty obligations by adopting an age-based vaccine rollout, found the Tribunal. That decision went against the advice of its officials who told the Government that younger Māori were more at risk than older non-Māori.
Māori were also disadvantaged because of a younger population meaning that they were 20 percent behind the national vaccination rate by the time vaccines were made available to all.
"The Tribunal also found that the Government breached the Treaty in its decision to move to the new protective framework. The unanimous advice the Government received from every medical and scientific advisor it consulted, from every Māori organisation it consulted, and from every one of its own officials in its own ministries, was not to move to the new framework until higher levels of vaccination had been achieved amongst Māori."
The council said the Crown’s engagement with Māori throughout the pandemic was found to have fallen short of what was required by the Treaty. "The result of these breaches is that Māori are suffering significantly worse impacts from the Covid-19 pandemic. As of today, in the latest outbreak, Māori (who make up 16.5% of the population) account for 44% of cases and 48% of deaths. This means Māori are currently 4.6 times more likely to die from Covid-19 than non-Māori."
The Tribunal said, “The statistics speak for themselves.”
Lady Tureiti Moxon, Chair of the National Urban Māori Authority said: “As the absolute authority on Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the Tribunal has made strong, and unequivocal recommendations that will make a real difference to power sharing and resource sharing between Māori and the Crown.”
Alongside affiliate the Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency whose 96 providers have vaccinated almost half a million New Zealanders of every ethnicity, Lady Tureiti was one of 40 claimants challenging the government with compelling and comprehensive evidence on where Treaty partnership obligations with Māori have not been honoured which has placed lives at risk.
“We absolutely agree with all the recommendations of the Waitangi Tribunal – they’re strong and deliberate and will actually make a difference in the health and wellbeing of our people.”
