Originally published as a column in The Southland Times

We all value our health and all Southlanders want improved access to a health service which delivers better outcomes for everyone.

This is a major issue for our region and there is no doubt that we can and must do better.  

However, the recently announced Government shake-up of the health sector has sounded warning bells because I fear our region will lose its voice, its funding and much of its autonomy.

The country’s 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) are set to be replaced by a single national health body, Health New Zealand, while a new separate Māori Health Authority has also been announced. It will have the power to commission health services and monitor Māori health.

So on one hand the Government is claiming that it wants to create a single, harmonious health system, yet on the other it is advocating a separate Māori Health Authority.

National firmly believes in the delivery of health services based on need, not on race.

This debate has been further clouded by recent leaked information around a new Government report, called He Puapua. This report has not been made public, but it looks at how the Government can uphold tangata whenua rights by giving effect to Māori sovereignty.

National Party leader Judith Collins has uncovered some concerning details particularly in regards to health, but also across several other areas.

Rewriting the history curriculum and making it compulsory was a recommendation of He Puapua. The Waitangi Tribunal has just made a decision that we must have a separate child welfare service for Māori - another recommendation of He Puapua.

Labour’s justice working group has also recommended separate justice systems, while there are moves to revisit ownership of the foreshore and seabed, along with questions around water and the conservation estate – all linked to He Puapua.

There is no doubt that the Treaty of Waitangi is New Zealand’s founding document and has an important role in our society today.

National believes that through the settlement process we must continue to right the wrongs of the past, but we must also look forward.

Enabling New Zealanders to work together will see our inequities addressed and outcomes like health improved for all.

I want to see the contents of the He Puapua report openly released and the public given a say on its recommendations.

One Parliament must represent all of New Zealand and Government services must be provided for all.

I am pleased that National would repeal a separate Māori Health Authority because we believe those with the greatest need should receive the appropriate resources.

In the meantime, we have no idea how much the Government's health plan is going to cost, or indeed how much pressure and disruption it will cause an already stressed health service.

My concerns are such that I have invited National’s Health spokesperson Dr Shane Reti to Invercargill this Friday to discuss Southern health services and to raise awareness around the serious issues which we face under this Labour Government.