84 Maranga Mai! Suppression Act (1907) which removed the centrality of Māori culture to health policy in New Zealand (Came et al, 2020, p. 210). This is demonstrated in non-Māori cynicism, or outright resentment toward learning about Māori concepts of health, often regarded as politically correct nonsense (Houkamau, 2016, p. 128). A 2000 study of psychiatrists’ views on improving bicultural training concerning Māori mental health services, highlighted such views: I wish master’s students would stop sending me crap studies like this, about meaningless, cultural rubbish. Māori only represent about 10 per cent of the population, for God’s sake. I am sick of questionnaires regarding Māori stuff, there are far more important issues than those regarding Māori mental health. Do you really think that psychiatrists need to have an understanding of such concepts like spirituality, come on give me a break (Johnstone and Read, 2000, pp. 141-142). The assumed norm of western medical knowledge also means that medical or healthcare practice can be, and often is, inconsistent with tikanga Māori. As a Māori Registered Nurse commented, “When I started my general training there was a whole lot of Pākehā structures and so you had to fit the mould and try very hard to squash any wider thinking” (Huria et al, 2014, p. 367). This side-lining of te ao Māori plays out equally in what language is ‘preferred’ in hospital and clinical settings. As another nurse remarked, “I brought into the wards Māori names on things like the wharepaku (toilet). I convinced my colleagues to have ‘Haere Mai (Welcome to) Ward 3’ it was there a month before it got taken down (Huria et al, 2014: 368). Many Māori nurses experience a comparably higher workload in going the “extra mile” for Māori patients. For them, this is to ensure the provision of culturally appropriate care that may not otherwise be received: “I don’t tend to discharge Māori patients, they stay with me forever and I just cart them around. So consequently, I get busier and busier, you don’t discharge whānau” (Huria et al, 2014, p. 368). Elsewhere, the expectation that Māori nurses be responsible for all Māori patients is a fait accompli: The minute you put your hand up the workload increases by at least a hundred-fold. The minute you say yes I am a Māori health worker within a non-Māori organisation, all the Māori patients that come through are directed to you (Huria et al, 2014: 368). This is part of the broader pattern of lumping ‘everything Māori’ onto few, or the only, Māori staff in an organisation. In academia, for example, Māori academics often have to “pull double-shifts” in doing their work as scholars in the academy, and “as unpaid cultural guides for non-Māori colleagues” (Radio New Zealand, 2021b). Māori health recommendations The following secondary recommendations could be further explored and developed within the National Action Plan Against Racism. See Appendix One for the full list. The government consider the following actions: • Following the Waitangi Tribunal, Hauora Report (2019 Wai 2575), last year the government appointed a new national Māori Health Authority | Te Mana Hauora Māori. The Authority took effect on 1 July 2022. The Human Rights Commission made comprehensive recommendations to the Pae Ora Bill and stands behind its recommendations. The submission can be read on the parliament.nz. • The new Māori Health Authority is properly funded and resourced and gives full effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi and enabling tino rangatiratanga. • The principle of equity, which requires the Crown to achieve equitable health outcomes for Māori, must apply in all health legislation, policy documents and action plans. • Stronger Māori Heath Authority-led monitoring systems be established to properly monitor quantitative and qualitative data on Māori health including reporting by regional health bodies, integrated alongside external Māori-led reviews.