New Zealand Health Minister Shane Reti said Tuesday that the Māori Health Authority will be shut down by the end of June this year, and its functions will be absorbed into the country’s national healthcare system. The move comes amid nationwide protests and legal action by the Pacific nation’s indigenous population, who believe the new government’s policies undermine their rights. 

The country’s national parliament has been sitting in urgency in part to introduce and pass the amendment bill through all stages. The decision to disestablish was recommended by a permanent commission known as the Waitangi Tribunal, which has heard claims from the Māori people since the 70s. 

The Māori are the indigenous Polynesian people of mainland New Zealand and makeup 17.3 percent of the country’s population. They face systemic inequalities and discrimination, including poorer health and higher death rates. The Māori Health Authority, or Te Aka Whai Ora, is the statutory entity responsible for managing Māori health policies and services. It was established in 2022 as part of a broader effort to improve the health outcomes of the Māori people, which lags behind that of the country’s broader population.

Reti, who was appointed to his post by incumbent Prime Minister Christopher Luxon following his taking of office in October 2024, has asserted that the absorption of Te Aka Whai Ora into the country’s national health service is vital to ensuring that it keeps the expertise it needs to improve health outcomes for “all New Zealanders, including Māori.”

“The narrow focus on disestablishment doesn’t mean an end to our focus on Māori health for those who need it,” Reti asserted in a statement shared on the government’s official website. “We know the solutions for Māori communities come from Māori communities – not a centralized Wellington hub.” He went on to say, “We are committed to finding more efficient ways to work together to deliver those solutions, as well as savings which can go back into better health outcomes.”

The announcement of the amendment bill has prompted criticism and outrage from the Māori people, triggering nationwide protests and demonstrations. 

Rahui Papa, the co-chair of the Iwi Charis Forum’s Pou Tangata, has said that the coalition government, in announcing its intention to pass the amendment bill to disestablish Te Aka Whai Ora, is “dishonorable and a contemporary breach of Te Tiriti of Waitangi“ or Treaty of Waitangi, New Zealand’s founding document, signed by representatives of the indigenous Māori people and the then-colonial Crown. 

Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, an indigenous Māori journalist for the New Zealand Herald, called Te Aka Whai Ora the “answer for Māori Health” and asserted that the country’s national health service is fundamentally ineffective. Ngarew-Packer also stated:

However you digest it, a health system that has since 1847, allowed for the premature death among its indigenous peoples, is a system that is flawed and has failed. If the one-size-fits-all approach has led to these stark health inequities in the first instance, then what truly does its resurrection tell us about the Government’s intent and agenda when it comes to Māori health?

Ngarewa-Packer’s words are indicative of the sentiment shared by the broader Māori community regarding the incumbent government. PM Christopher Luxon’s center-right coalition previously promised to undo policies of the country’s previous Labour government, in particular jeopardizing those policies promoting the official use of the Māori language and those seeking to improve the quality of life of the indigenous. Luxon has denied all claims that he is actively seeking to dismantle indigenous rights and freedoms, assuring the public that his policies are aimed at giving “all New Zealanders equal rights.”

Former associate health minister Peeni Henare, weighing in on the announcement, described the disestablishment of the Māori Health Authority as “evasive” and “cowardly.”

A claim has been lodged with the Waitangi Tribunal over the amendment bill, though it is expected that the bill will be passed and the closure made official before the tribunal can hear the claim.