1 August 2023
Grace Haden
[email address]
Tēnā koe Grace
Your request for Official information, reference: HNZ00025405
I refer to your email on 11 July 2023, asking for the following under the Official Information Act
1982 (the Act):
1. how it is determined if someone comes under the Maori Health authority or health New
Zealand .
2. the funding for each respective authority for every year since 2022 and budgeted in the next
5 years
3. the consideration to providing the english name to health New zealand since the services
it provides is not targeted at Maori
4.please provide the policy for both health New zealand and the maori health authority as to
their operation conduct and ownership and use of of public assets and infrastructure
5. while I agree with respect to the use of trading names it has to be noted that te Whatu ora
is not registerd as a trading name and as such is just simply a name derived without any
legitimacy or authority and enforced on the non maori speeking majority of New Zealanders
..while I accept that Maori have their cultural rights the rest of us have those rights too and
perhaps we all need to start calling on our ancesstry to identify ourselves this way we can
be certain that we set up cultural bias rather than being one unified melting pot .what
consideration was given to the legitimisation of the name .
6 please provide documentation to show that the cultural sensitivities of non maori were
ever considered and if not why not .
7. As the name te Whatu Ora did not exist as a name at the time the legislation passed into
law , it cannot be a traditonal name and appears to be a made up name assigned as a
synonym please provide evidence of consultation to the public that Health New Zealand was
intended to serve ( non maori) when deciding on an alternative to the legal name and
receiving feed back as to their comprehension with regards to the name
8. please provide copies of all due dil igence that has been done with regards to the
implications of asigning a non legal name to a public authority with emphasis on potential
for fraud by the introduction of other non defined non legal names. this particulary affects
the ability of non legal epersons to own property I note that Te whatu Ora is recorded as
owning property which is an impossibility due to its non legal status .
9 In stating that Te whatu Ora did not exist when the law was drafted, please provide the
documentation and consent which was obtained in assigning the name
Our response to your earlier Official Information Act request (on 10 July 2023 - reference
HNZ00021859) provided information on the name of our organisation and explained its meaning
and origin. If you are not happy with this response, you have the right to make a complaint to the
Ombudsman. Information about how to do this is available at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or
by phoning 0800 802 602.
There is publicly available information regarding budget allocations for Te Whatu Ora and Te Aka
Whai Ora available at the following location:
Vote Health | Ministry of Health NZ.
Regarding the roles of the two organisations, Te Whatu Ora – Health New Zealand was
established under the
Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) Act 2022 and leads the day-to-day running of the
health system across New Zealand, with functions delivered at local, district, regional and national
levels.
Te Aka Whai Ora – Māori Health Authority is an independent entity with clear accountabilities to
both Māori and Ministers. It works with Te Whatu Ora to commission and plan services,
commission kaupapa Māori services and monitor the performance of the system for Māori. Te Aka
Whai Ora will also work with Manatū Hauora - the Ministry of Health to prepare national strategies
and advise the Minister.
I trust this addresses your correspondence.
As this information may be of interest to other members of the public, Te Whatu Ora may
proactively release a copy of this response on our website. Al requester data, including your name
and contact details, wil be removed prior to release.
Nāku iti noa, nā
Michael Cleary
Acting OIA Manager
Government Services
TeWhatuOra.govt.nz
