Change to Therapeutic Products Bill a huge win for Māori - Te Pāti Māori

Change to Therapeutic Products Bill a huge win for Māori

After much pressure from rongoā Māori practitioners, health advocates, Māori health providers, patients, and Te Pāti Māori, the Government has today announced significant changes to the Therapeutic Products Bill.

The legislation will now exempt rongoā Māori practitioners and small-scale Natural Health Product (NHP) manufacturers. An advisory committee of rongoā experts and Māori health leaders will be established to ensure the regulation of our rongoā and mātauranga remains in Māori hands.

“Te Pāti Māori have opposed the inclusion of rongoā in the legislation from day one. Bringing it into Pākehā law would criminalise our rongoā practitioners and tohunga, just like the Crown did with the Tohunga Suppression Act” said Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer.
“Rongoā Māori is a Tiriti-protected taonga that must be protected from Crown interference.

“It’s good to see the Minister has finally caved to the demands of our people, exempting our rongoā practitioners from the Act” said Ngarewa-Packer.

“I want to acknowledge the thousands of people who have stood up against this attack on our mātauranga. The 16,000 submitters, the 5,000 petitioners, and the hikoi who came to Parliament with a clear message to the Crown: ‘keep your hands off our rongoā!’
“This would not have happened without the people” Ngarewa-Packer said.

Gaza: Aotearoa Must Support Independent Investigation into Mass Graves preview image

Gaza: Aotearoa Must Support Independent Investigation into Mass Graves

Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of the bodies show evidence of torture, mutilation, and mass execution. Some have been found stripped naked with bound hands, while others still had medical tubes attached to them indicating that they were likely buried alive. In the same week the United States pledged a further $17bn to the Israeli war machine. The US is now calling for an investigation into the mass graves to be led by Israel with no independent international oversight. “This is a new level of horror that we haven’t seen before” said Te Pāti Māori co-leader and human rights spokesperson Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “We won’t accept the findings of any investigation that is not independent of Israel and the United States. To do so is to be complicit in covering up one of the worst atrocities to ever be witnessed.

Another ‘Stolen Generation’ enabled by court ruling on Waitangi Tribunal summons preview image

Another ‘Stolen Generation’ enabled by court ruling on Waitangi Tribunal summons

Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when it comes to decisions for Māori, without evidence and without including us in the conversation. It’s enabling another stolen generation” said Te Tai Tokerau MP, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “To do away with Section 7AA is to continue the Crown’s rotten agenda that harms our vulnerable Māori babies. It disgusts me that a Seymour-proclaimed mana wahine is proud of her actions to oppress our children. “This decision socks it to the nation and Māori babies, with the governments idiopathic agenda to steal the right tamariki Māori have to be with whakapapa and the organisations duty to uphold Te Tiriti o Waitangi. “This government is hellbent on overriding, creating laws and overturning evidence based and informed policy. The Minister has no evidence to back up the repeal of 7AA.

Ferris - Three Strikes targets those ‘too brown to be white’ preview image

Ferris - Three Strikes targets those ‘too brown to be white’

The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received over 50% of the strikes, and 63% of those with a second strike were Māori. Ministry of Justice briefs established that there was no evidence of this policy reducing crime, or having any obvious effect on crime rates at all. “We know unequivocally that being harder on crime equates to being harder on Māori and those too brown to be white. These numbers demonstrate it,” said Ferris. "Modelled on US law that disproportionately targeted African Americans, Three Strikes has unjustly perpetuated racism and ensnared Māori with no evidence of reducing crime. "We only have to look at 2022 research out of California1 showing that Three Strikes has no measurable deterrent effect, that it locks up African Americans, and that it does not address crime.

Oranga Tamariki cuts commit tamariki to state abuse preview image

Oranga Tamariki cuts commit tamariki to state abuse

Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Removing the organisations Treaty Response Unit and capability in a workforce that is established to support our most vulnerable is short-sighted racism. “Today’s announcement confirms what we knew back in February, that there were 600 jobs on the line. When questioned in the house, the Minister failed to acknowledge that almost a quarter of the total capacity within Oranga Tamariki would be slashed.

Te Pāti Māori to visit Queensland to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia preview image

Te Pāti Māori to visit Queensland to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia

Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both MPs and the Party to build on connections with whānau Māori in Australia as well as the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The programme includes engagements with performing kapa haka, their whānau and communities. MP's will also be the masters of ceremony at the kapa haka event which determines which groups from Australia qualify for Te Matatini 2025. The programme will also include a meeting with independent indigenous Senator for Victoria, Lidia Thorpe, on Thursday, April 18.

Waititi writes to parties asking them to support removal of GST from food preview image

Waititi writes to parties asking them to support removal of GST from food

Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my bill to remove GST from kai,” said bill sponsor and Te Pāti Māori co-leader, Rawiri Waititi. “It shouldn’t matter where you sit on the political spectrum. Removing GST from kai should be a no brainer for any party who is serious about supporting whānau during a cost of living crisis. “Food is a right and a necessity that shouldn’t be taxed. We know that GST hits lower income whānau the hardest. “We should not be relying on people who are struggling to feed their tamariki to prop up our tax system.

We Will Never Back Down on Seabed Mining preview image

We Will Never Back Down on Seabed Mining

After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This is despite failing every environmental threshold and having their consent revoked by three separate courts. “It’s clear these corporations are feeling emboldened by this government and their fast-tracking legislation” said Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “TTR have already invested $50 million into their bid to pillage our seabed of minerals, and now they have the government backing them. We are gravely concerned for what this means for our rural communities who cannot afford endless court cases. “Iwi have won every court case against TTR, and have proven beyond doubt that this company cannot meet the environmental threshold. But here we are, back at this point.

Govt commits Māori to a premature death with axing of health authority, smokefree laws preview image

Govt commits Māori to a premature death with axing of health authority, smokefree laws

The government’s attack on Māori health this week is committing tangata-whenua to a premature death, says Te Pāti Māori. “The government have begun their onslaught on Māori health with the abolishment of the Māori Health Authority and smokefree laws in the same day” said health spokesperson and co-leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Our health system sees Māori die seven years earlier than non-Māori. We are two-to-three times more likely to be engulfed with cancer and sixty percent more likely to die after diagnosed. “The writing is on the wall, it’s in the wards and oncology units across the country.

Te Pāti Māori request urgent debate to stop dictatorship government preview image

Te Pāti Māori request urgent debate to stop dictatorship government

Te Pāti Māori has this morning written to the speaker of the house requesting an urgent debate around the use and abuse of urgency to expedite the progression of its agenda, including the disestablishment of the Māori health authority. “The governments use and abuse of urgency has created a dictatorship in what should be a Tiriti-led democratic state,” said co-leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “The Executive has destroyed public, judicial and legislative oversight and participation. Urgency has been used in every sitting week of the 2024 sitting year - it is an abuse of government’s power. “We have seen urgency used to abolish three waters legislation, workers’ rights including fair-pay agreements, 90-day trials, and section 27 cultural reports.

Members bill to remove GST from kai, pulled from ballot preview image

Members bill to remove GST from kai, pulled from ballot

Te Pāti Māori co-leader and Member for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi is ecstatic his members bill to remove GST from kai has been drawn from the ballot. “For the last three-years Te Pāti Māori have been calling on the previous and current governments to implement real change and address the cost-of-living crisis,” said co-leader Rawiri Waititi. “I am excited that my bill to remove GST from kai has been drawn from the ballot. It is the start of the radical shake-up our taxation system in this country needs. “I am calling on all parties in the house to support my bill. “We have had overwhelming support on the Te Pāti Māori petition to remove GST off kai. In a Newshub poll, over 70% of people supported the move prior to the election. “It is clear the people want GST to be removed from their grocery bills.