The "standard story" of anti-Maori talk in Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) Bill submissions.

AIM: To review some common patterns of race talk in a sample of submissions made to the Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) Bill. This bill proposed a structural reform of the health system in Aotearoa New Zealand to address long-standing health inequities experienced by Maori, the Indigenous peoples, and other priority populations. METHOD: In a sample of 3,000 individual submissions made in late 2021, we found 2,536 explicit references to race. Utilising the "standard story" frame of Pakeha/non-Maori race talk, five longer submissions that inferred that the Pae Ora bill was "racist" were analysed in detail. RESULTS: Many "standard story" race discourses were identified in the Pae Ora submissions. Three derived discourses included in this paper are: Pakeha as norm (monoculturalism or not seeing Pakeha as a culture), equality and the "Treaty" (equality for all to access healthcare), and one people (we are all New Zealanders). Sources such as the Waitangi Tribunal Wai 2575 Hauora report were drawn on to provide alternative discourses. CONCLUSION: Identifying Pakeha standard story discourses enables learning about language patterns systems draw on, and the development of tools and procedures to improve equity for Maori and eliminate institutional racism.

Indigenous Maori responses to COVID-19: He waka eke noa?

The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 has had significant impacts on communities and infrastructures across the globe. Indigenous health experts have called for culturally responsive Government support to mitigate pre-existing inequities and vulnerabilities in Indigenous communities. In Aotearoa New Zealand, official responses to the pandemic typically reflect the worldviews of the settler majority, while Maori interests are treated as part of the national concern. Using autoethnographic, Indigenous voice and an Indigenous wellbeing model, Whiti te Ra, this article contributes insights into Maori cultural values as they were reported in online platforms during the Level 4 lockdown period of March-July, 2020. The authors recorded multiple examples of Maori cultural values and practices that offered individuals, families and communities a digital-social space of safety and hope to build relational resilience, and to mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 lockdown. Observations and responses aligned to the model's six dimensions of relational wellbeing: Maori language, the natural environment, spirituality, creative and performing arts, family (and extended family) values and genealogical connections. The observations highlight that Maori have a multigenerational approach to crisis management based on ancestral wisdom and experience that can inform Government responses.

Indigenous people in Aotearoa New Zealand are overrepresented in cannabis convictions.

BACKGROUND: Previous work has demonstrated that cannabis laws have had a disproportionate impact on Maori, the Indigenous people of Aotearoa New Zealand. In 2019, the New Zealand Government amended cannabis laws, providing police with the power to determine whether a therapeutic or health-centred approach would be more beneficial than a conviction. In the current study, we use population level data to assess whether this law change has ameliorated the bias in cannabis convictions for Maori. METHODS: Data were drawn from the Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI), a large government database hosted by Aotearoa New Zealand's national statistics office. In the IDI, we selected individuals who (1) were between 18 and 65, (2) were Maori or Pakeha (New Zealanders of European descent) and, (3) had any cannabis charges that proceeded to the courts. RESULTS: Maori ethnicity was a significant predictor of the odds of receiving a cannabis conviction for Maori males (Odds: 1.56), with a marginally significant effect for Maori females (Odds: 1.57). Further, for Maori, there was no reduction in the number of cannabis charges before vs. after the amendment to cannabis laws. CONCLUSION: The current study demonstrates that the bias in cannabis convictions for Maori remain. Given this, the New Zealand Government must follow other countries around the world and move forward on cannabis law reform.