Was Sir Collin Tukuitonga’s resignation in the best interests of Māori and Pasifika health?

Governor-General Dame Cindy Kiro makes Sir Collin Tukuitonga a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit. Photo / Government House

EDITORIAL

Sir Collin Tukuitonga is a man of mana and principles and his long and illustrious record of service to the health of New Zealanders - especially Māori and Pasifika - speaks for itself.

From chief executive of the Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs - now Pacific Peoples Ministry - to director of Public Health for the Ministry of Health, coordinator of surveillance of noncommunicable diseases for the World Health Organisation based in Geneva and director-general of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community, Tukuitonga has served New Zealanders well.

His service matches that of Sir Ashley Bloomfield.

Will Sir Ashley Bloomfield be a voice for Māori and Pasifika health inequities? Photo / Warren Buckland

But when Tukuitonga saw the policy changes and settings the incoming Government was proposing across a range of health issues, including repealing the smokefree legislation, he wanted no part of it. He immediately stood down from his government appointments, including as chairman of Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand Pacific Senate.

“I really don’t want to work for this Government. I have no confidence. They are not going to treat Pacific people well and I want to be free to speak up and speak out.”

It’s not exactly what the doctor - Health Minister Dr Shane Reti - ordered, less than one week into his new job.

Tukuitonga, who has been a longstanding champion of health inequities, says he could not be an adviser to a government he doesn’t believe is best for moving New Zealand forward.

Good on Tukuitonga for making a quick choice. Thank you for your service. But is it a brave call or one that will have the opposite effect long-term?

Where does his resignation leave Māori and Pasifika health? Who will champion their causes for the next three years? Who has the runs on the board for a government minister to take advice from, in the Māori and Pasifika space and implement changes, which will go against his Cabinet colleagues’ wishes? Who is going to argue for the health needs of Māori and Pasifika, who already have no real voice?

Tukuitonga rightly cites the lack of Pacific Island representation - the fourth largest population base in New Zealand - in the new Government, which went from “11 MPs in Cabinet to no one at all”.

Will this be another sad case of a well-meaning politician telling Māori and Pacific people what’s best for them?

We can’t all be outside the tent. Some have to be inside with the power brokers to keep them honest and to effect real change. If you are at the government table, at least there’s a chance you might get fed, or as former Labour MP Winnie Laban said, “if you not at the table you’re dinner.”

When John Key gave the Māori Party a coalition deal in 2008, he did so wanting to move along the Treaty process and Treaty settlements pathways and the foreshore and seabed debate.

Whānau Ora, which dollar for dollar is one of the best Return On Investment (ROI) social investment programmes in New Zealand, was born from that political marriage.

Tukuitonga’s stance is the same taken by another knight, Māori businessman and entrepreneur Sir Ian Taylor, who last week stepped away from the boards of several high-profile organisations so he too can offer opinions that might upset the Government of the day.

There is only one Sir Collin Tukuitonga, but Māori and Pasifika are in need of another, and soon.