Tariana Turia

Friday 4 September 2009, 11am; Taupo : Central Region Hon Tariana Turia, Associate Minister of Health

This will be a day which I hope will give us some excitement for our future as tangata whenua.

As I travelled this morning from the geyserlands of Rotorua to the Wairakei thermal fields, I thought about the fundamental ahi kaa and kaitiakitanga relationship that mana whenua have with the geothermal resource.

The relationship covers many aspects - electricity generation; heating; commercial development; tourism and recreational activities; traditional and customary use; and most importantly, the protection and preservation of the geothermal resource as a taonga in terms of our culture and traditions.

There are many interests at heart - kaitiakitanga; customary and Treaty interests; the right to development.

It seems to me, there could be an interesting parallel made with the protection and promotion of another of our most precious taonga - our health - which is the reason that we have gathered here today.

The motivation for this hui is in response to the drive for "better, sooner, more convenient primary health care".

From every direction we are hearing that we are on a fast-track to implementation; which is inviting providers to "rapidly introduce new models of care on a large scale".

As you all know, primary health care involves diverse services and preventative activity including health promotion, counselling, screening, providing access to treatment and care.

For most people, it is their first point of contact with the health system but primary health care is about more than services. It is about relationships - about continuity of care, working with communities, looking at all the factors that impact on health outcomes.

So there are many reasons why we need to ensure that the fast-track is a track that our people are on - and a track which leads to the best outcomes for our whanau. We are, after all, the mainstream.

And when I talk outcomes my focus extends to and beyond measures such as extended opening hours; increased access to treatment and diagnostic services; minor surgery and clinical leadership, vital as these all are.

When I think about outcomes I am thinking whanau ora.

I am thinking about self-sufficient, independent and inter-dependent whanau who are able to provide for and support their whanau.

I want to see whanau who can carry our culture, our heritage, our knowledge into the future. In their everyday lives they demonstrate the healthy lifestyle that will guarantee a future for them and for their mokopuna.

They will be transmitters of knowledge; modelling our natural capacity to be innovative, adaptable, entrepreneurial and well-educated.

They will be able to make decisions about their own lives, having enjoyed sufficient access to resource to provide for their needs.

They will know the value of their own cultural practices such as rongoa.

They will be secure gateways to te Ao Maori, understanding the spiritual aspects of our culture, and proud of their whakapapa, history, taonga, language and identity.

They will be guardians of the environment, and able to realise their roles, functions, responsibilities and obligations to each other.

We will know that whanau ora exist when we see all of our whanau members being loved, nurtured, protected and enabled to explore their full potential.

So how does whanau ora fit with a focus of better, sooner, more convenient primary health care?

How does the commitment to "make Kiwis healthier" and to "develop a more personalised primary health care system" impact on our whanau, on Maori providers; on iwi and Maori communities?

I want to be quite clear with you all - that I am absolutely focused on lifting the outcomes for whanau in everything that I do in the parliamentary environment.

Within that, I am of course keen to support Maori health providers, who are successfully working with whanau, in a service in which the kaupapa and the delivery framework are distinctively kaupapa Maori.

I acknowledge too, that in addition to contracted Maori health providers, there are other health providers who are significant in providing health and disability services to Maori.

All of these providers, all of these services, will benefit from a focus on outcomes, to build on the platform of health already established.

And I am reminded of the results from a report released earlier this year, He Ritenga Whakaaro: Maori experiences of health services.

That report said that,

the challenge for the health system is to 'up its game' by improving its delivery of health care services that are appropriate, accessible and effective for Māori.

In this way, the health system can become a leading solution in the 'crisis in Māori health' that is evident in current disparities.

So the challenge is out there, fair and square - the urgency and the immediacy of us all taking on the challenge to up our game.

We must apply our best thinking to the challenges ahead, we must drill down into the fine print, and we must be ready.

It's no good waiting to erupt like the proverbial geyser after the changes have been implemented - the opportunity is there for us all to become involved in the change process.

When we read that there may be amendments to existing policy settings, we must be prepared to watch that any changes that occur, do not compromise the outcomes for whanau that we seek.

In the forms requesting an Expression of Interest for developing a primary health care service model, there is an indication that final funding and contracting agreements may involve an examination of all the available revenue throughout the rohe.

These are bold statements of intent, and they indicate the enormity of the challenges ahead of us and I am urging all of us to understand.

Today's hui will be a vital step forward in this journey, and I want to acknowledge the Ministry of Health, the national Maori PHO Coalition and Te Whanau o Waipareira Trust for their contribution to the discussions that we will hold today.

I'm really pleased that the Minister intends to be here today, and I hope that we can set some time ahead to hear from him.

In the drive to achieve primary health care which is better, sooner, more convenient; we must insist that whanau ora is at the core.

I wish us all a stimulating and invigorating day.

Na reira, tena koutou katoa.