Wellness, wait time, workforce: Pacific Health leaders put parties to the test

Pacific health and community leaders invited political parties to debate the health needs of Pacific people ahead of the 7 November election. Six political parties were invited. The four that accepted, were put to the test on wellness, wait time and workforce, the three issues leaders set, for the forum in South Auckland.

The Auckland Pacific Political Panel at AUT’s South Campus in Manukau on Wednesday heard from Labour’s Carmel Sepuloni, the Green Party’s Teanau Tuiono, NZ First’s Vicky Hau and The Opportunity Party’s Adam MacRae-Martin.

The forum aimed to hear each party’s priorities for Pacific families and the results communities could hold them to. PMN’s William Terite facilitated the panel.

The sharpest exchange came on workforce, when Terite asks what each party would do to grow and retain a strong Pacific health and community workforce. Hau says inequities need to be addressed on a needs basis.

“When we attack it on a needs basis, it means that we should be able to save everyone that’s at the bottom first,” she says.

Tuiono hits back.

“Sometimes you need to know that that person’s a Tongan, or you need to know that person’s a Niuean, need to know whether that person’s a Sāmoan,” he says.

He says erasing Pacific people from policy documents “leads to the inequities that we’re already talking about”.

“I take a different perspective from what was just expressed there. I think I needed to put that on the record.”

A PMN News-Horizon Research Pacific Issues Election Survey in July showed 66 per cent of respondents identified health as an issue that would influence how they vote in the 7 November election.”

Far right, Opportunities MacRae-Martin says free public transport would help people reach services. Photo/Geradus Veerspek/Supplied

Sepuloni says the terms Māori and Pacific have been removed from government documents “as if there’s no additional needs in the health area for us”.

“Having equity measures put in place in the health system is not about special treatment. It is recognition of the fact that we do have additional needs,” she says.

Hau, the only panellist from a governing party, says the GP funding formula now includes deprivation, which she says has brought 53,000 extra GP enrolments in areas like Māngere.

On wellness, Terite asks what policies would improve the health and wellbeing of Pacific families.

“We know that when our parents and grandparents came here, they saw this as the land of milk and honey. It is sad now that we’re in this position where so many of our people can’t even afford the milk and honey,” Sepuloni says.

Labour offers three free GP visits, free prescriptions, a job for every graduate nurse and the return of pay equity, with an immediate $4 an hour lift for care and support workers. The Greens would fund an extra $3 billion a year for health through a wealth tax.

Second from the left, the Greens' Teanau Tuiono said, "erasing Pacific people from policy documents leads to the inequities that we’re already talking about” . Photo/Geradus Veerspek/Supplied

NZ First wants health coaches working alongside GPs.

“Let’s be honest, a lot of you aunties and uncles, you’re not taking the pills or you’re not actually following what the GP tells you,” Hau says.

On wait time, Hau points to NZ First’s proposed $925 million fund for GPs to buy specialist appointments, while MacRae-Martin says free public transport would help people reach services.

Tuiono says Pacific providers, who “know how to engage particularly with our elders”, must be properly resourced, and MacRae-Martin says they should help shape services.

“Bureaucrats down in Wellington don’t necessarily know the needs of what South Auckland has, but we have passionate community organisations that do,” he says.

From left, Ta Tupu Foundation Trust's, Evangeleen Joseph, Labour's Carmel Sepuloni, Matua Collective Chair, Rouruina Emile-Brown and Vice Chair, Qoriniasi Tuifagalele. Photo/Geradus Veerspek/Supplied

To close, Terite asks each party what measurable improvement Pacific communities should expect by the end of 2028, and how it would show progress.

The panel was organised by three Pacific groups: the Matua Collective, led by Chair Rouruina Emile-Brown, which provides cultural leadership and advice across Te Whatu Ora; the Aotearoa Tongan Response Group, led by Chair Pakilau Manase Lua; and the Ta Tupu Foundation Trust, led by Mati Filemoni Timoteo and Evangeleen Joseph.

Advance voting is open until Friday 6 November. Election day is Saturday 7 November, with voting places open from 9am to 7pm.