110 Maranga Mai! Māori (the Authority) which came into effect in 2022. The Human Rights Commission welcomes the government’s decision to establish an independent Māori Health Authority. The new Authority seeks to “enhance Māori rangatiratanga over hauora Māori and ensure greater influence over the entire health system”. It will work with Māori in partnership, to ensure their health needs are met and reflected in the priorities and plans of the health system, including kaupapa Māori models and the application of mātauranga Māori in the system. The Commission made a comprehensive submission to the Pae Ora Bill highlighting recommendations aimed at giving greater effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi. The submission included supporting tino rangatiratanga, the rights of tangata whenua to self-determination, and the right to the highest attainable standard of health care; and to strengthen equality of access to all health services to reduce health inequities. These recommendations stand. The submission can be read on parliament.nz. In addition, this report makes further suggestions to support the new Authority to give full effect to Te Tiriti and to reduce inequities and improve health outcomes for Māori. Racism in the police and criminal justice This report challenges Aotearoa acknowledge there is racism embedded in the police and criminal justice system resulting in Māori having the second highest rates of incarceration in the world. One in every 142 Māori are incarcerated, compared to one in every 808 non-Māori. The effect of racism is even stronger for wāhine who make up two thirds of the female prison population. Rangatira Māori did not sign Te Tiriti in 1840 with the vision that large numbers of their descendants, men, women and young people would not kōrero te reo, become impoverished, be dehumanised by racism, rejected by their country and incarcerated. Ahi Kaa and the Tangata Whenua Caucus of the National Anti-Racism Taskforce (2020-2022) are aware the late Dr Moana Jackson was leading a team of researchers to update his original comprehensive report, He Whaipaanga Hou – A New Perspective into the criminal justice system’s bias against Māori. In anticipation of this report being published, there are a number of recommendations on criminal justice, including reform of the justice system to reflect Te Tiriti and abolishing prisons by 2040; establishing a Mana Ōrite partnership so Māori and Crown agencies share in governance and decision-making at all levels of the justice sector; applying kaupapa Māori approaches; and that the government prioritise investment in community-led transformative justice. Maranga Mai! encourages New Zealanders to understand that the high incarceration rate of Māori is related to the deprivation of Māori, caused by colonisation and racism, and that it is time to discuss and envision an Aotearoa free of prisons and to focus on creating ‘by Māori for Māori’ solutions. Māori owned whenua The alienation of Māori-owned whenua and the accompanying Crown war, land confiscation and unjust legislation over the past 182 years has forced Māori into poverty and despair creating the comprehensive inequalities and inequities that Māori face in all domains of life. Government is encouraged to acknowledge its role in the intergenerational trauma affecting tangata whenua through centuries of Crown oppression, including deliberate land dispossession. The ‘full and final’ Treaty Settlements policy of successive governments should be revisited to ensure it properly incorporates Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Among the issues needing to be addressed include: how governments have imposed the Treaty settlements process on tangata whenua and the coercive and divisive tactics used against iwi; the agenda to diminish and extinguish Māori rights; and how the process further colonised and controlled iwi by pushing ‘full and final settlements’ on iwi. Treaty settlements have resulted in less than two percent of the value of lands, that were taken from Māori, returned. This redress is supposedly full and final compensation for all the harm caused by the Crown. A review of central and local government legislation and policies is urgently needed to improve the way that Māori whenua owners can access, develop, and live on their own land, and realise the return of dispossessed land to iwi, hapū and whānau. Restoring tino rangatiratanga for Māori whenua owners, and reviewing the rating system, are among some of the first steps that government could take. This review is long overdue and is urgent.