Our vision is for an Aotearoa where everyone’s health is taken care of, no matter who we are or where we come from. Achieving this vision requires strong health services that acknowledge and work with our differences – not a one-size-fits-all approach. 

Unfortunately, the Government’s proposed changes through the Healthy Futures (Pae Ora) Amendment Bill unwind that acknowledgement, and risk locking in the same one-size-fits-all system that has failed so many of us. 

Read our guide below, and then 

Submissions close at 1pm on Monday 18th August 2025.

One-size-fits-all doesn’t work because we don’t all start from the same place. This is most visible through Māori average life expectancy, which is 7-8 years less than non-Māori.  

We can remedy this – but it takes an approach that prioritises equity – treating each person according to their needs, in order to reach an equal outcome - not by treating everyone the same. 

What is the Healthy Futures (Pae Ora) Amendment Bill, and why does it matter? 

The Healthy Futures (Pae Ora) Amendment Bill removes equity principles from the Act, which will have an impact on how Te Whatū Ora, our public health provider, delivers services.  

It also removes Te Mauri o Rongo – the New Zealand Health Charter, the guiding star that requires health workplaces to be physically, mentally and culturally safe, while working towards Pae Ora at every level of the system. 

This will, in turn, impact all communities which suffer inequitable health outcomes, including Māori and Pasifika, migrant, rainbow and Takatāpui whānau. 

The original Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) Act implemented the recommendations from the Wai 2575 Waitangi Tribunal Report into Māori health, which found successive Governments had failed to bridge the equity gap between Māori and non-Māori health outcomes.  

Pae Ora was to bring us towards health equity by putting legal responsibility on Health New Zealand  Te Whatū Ora to bridge equity gaps. Removing this legal responsibility means Te Whatū Ora is effectively being told not to bother. 

Under the misleading guise of “equality”, this Government are attacking equity from all sides.    

First disestablishing te Aka Whai Ora, the Māori Health Authority, which was tasked with achieving equitable health outcomes and monitoring Māori health.  Then, they stripped Māori and Pasifika of early bowel cancer screening, something that would have saved lives and evened the playing field. Now they’re re-directing our biggest healthcare provider away from equity, and towards the same one-size-fits-all approach that got us into this mess in the first place.    

What you can do today is make a submission against this Bill, and tell the Select Committee how important health equity, and specially designed services are for you and your community! Submissions are open until 1pm on Monday 18th August 2025.

Key things the Bill does  

• Removes the Health sector Principles and Charter from the Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) Act, which contain principles of equitable health outcomes 

• Weakens the role of Iwi-Māori Partnership Boards in decision-making on health services, instead consolidating power for the politically appointed Hauora Māori Advisory Committee 

• Removes the requirement for tikanga and mātauranga knowledge on Te Whatū Ora’s board, and removes requirements for cultural safety  

• Emphasises out-sourcing care to the private sector 

• Changes the title of the Act from Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) to Healthy Futures (Pae Ora) – this will have no material change, and requires the title to be altered in 40 other pieces of legislation. It’s little more than a dog whistle, and a waste of time and money. 
  
  
  

Make a submission  

When you’re ready, click here to make your submission.   

Try to use your own words as much as possible and tell the Government to abandon the Bill.   

Your own words and point of view are enough. Your submission can be as long or as short as you like. Only have one minute? It can just be a sentence saying you oppose the Bill.   

If you want to go into more detail, below is a basic structure your submission could follow, and we’ve linked more information below.  

Start your submission with:   

[I oppose the Healthy Futures (Pae Ora) Amendment Bill] and ask the Select Committee and recommend the Government abandon this Bill.]   

Make your recommendation:  

Tell the Select Committee why you OPPOSE the Healthy Futures (Pae Ora) Amendment Bill.  

We recommend putting this in your own words and making it your own.  

If you have experience receiving healthcare from kaupapa Māori services, Pasifika services, services designed for rainbow and Takatāpui people, or the migrant or whaikaha community – tell the select committee your experience and why you value these services.  

Providing these safe spaces, specifically designed for your community, is equity in action, and it’s important.  

Then you could say for example:    

• The Healthy Futures (Pae Ora) Amendment Bill takes us further away from where we need to be in terms of health equity.  

• The Healthy Futures (Pae Ora) Amendment Bill undoes the work towards meeting the recommendations in the Wai 2575 Kaupapa Inquiry on Health Services and Outcomes, and therefore continues to breach te Tiriti o Waitangi, as successive Governments have failed Māori health.   

• The Healthy Futures (Pae Ora) Amendment Bill undermines tino rangatiratanga by making Iwi-Māori Partnership Boards whānau voice only; Māori should have an active decision-making role alongside the Crown for Māori health.   

• The Healthy Futures (Pae Ora) Amendment Bill emphasises out-sourcing care to the private sector. Increasingly relying on the for-profit health sector will undermine the capability of our public health system to deliver the care that people need. 

• The removal of a focus on equity will impact my community, because it could result in less funding for services specifically designed for rainbow people and our needs.  

• The removal of the requirement for culturally competent care concerns me, because I often don’t feel listened to or believed in regular primary care settings.  

• I really value the hauora service that takes care of me and my whānau. The practitioners took the time to build a relationship with us, and we have a high level of trust we weren’t able to have with other health services.  

Then tell the select committee your recommendation: 

This is where you make recommendations for changes you want the select committee to make. We suggest you include here that you recommend the select committee to abandoning the Bill.   

This can just be sentence saying you recommend the select committee abandons the Bill.  

If you wish to expand on this, you can speak to key areas of the Bill you are concerned about, and connect those to the recommendation to abandon the Bill. This should be written in your own words.  

• e.g., “In light of the shortfalls and failings outlined above, I recommend the select committee abandon the Healthy Futures (Pae Ora) Amendment Bill.”