Left Further Behind - Child Poverty Action Group

claimant groups to spend valuable negotiations effort and funding on getting an assurance that
government will do the basic job that taxpayers fund it to do. So I am extremely concerned about
the development of social and environmental accords in Treaty settlements the need for these
accords shows.
This view encapsulates, to an extent, the conflict between the Māori drive to reclaim rangatiratanga
while at the same time seeking to achieve social equality with other New Zealanders that can only
be financed by the state. No other body exists other than the State with the resources to advance
the equal participation of Māori in New Zealand society, or indeed the survival of large numbers of
Māori throughout the country in times of need and crisis. Recently, measures to enhance or provide
for more Māori input into the social security system specifically have focused on intensive case
management, and the development of partnerships with some iwi in creating further and better job
opportunities for Māori (Ministry of Social Development, 2010d). The social security system itself is
neither challenged nor changed by these sorts of initiatives.
Whānau Ora, then, as a ‘grand idea’ and initiative may herald greater Māori involvement in decisionmaking
with regard to social policy than has previously been achieved. A greater level of rangatiratanga,
in the sense of greater influence and control over social policy may well be achievable. Whether such
an achievement will enhance the citizenship and rangatiratanga for whānau Māori within the social
security system is, as yet, questionable.
He Korowai Oranga
The collectivist whānau-centred approach is neither entirely novel nor new. As mentioned in the
Introduction, the Whānau Ora approach primarily evolved out of substantial policy work done in the
development of the Māori Health Framework, He Korowai Oranga in 2002. The overall aim of the
strategy is “Whānau ora: Māori families supported to achieve their maximum health and well-being”
(Whānau Ora Taskforce, 2010).
The Māori Health Strategy may have, in conjunction with other policy measures, some positive impact
on health outcomes for Māori. Recent data analysis suggests a significant causal link between the
implementation of pro-equity health strategies (incorporating He Korowai Oranga) and improving
mortality indicators (Tobias, Blakely, Matheson, Kumanan Rasanathan, & Atkinson, 2009). This
internationally reported research investigated trends in mortality rates in New Zealand for Māori and
Pākehā between 1951 and 2006. In particular the study identified causal links between the neoliberal
reforms of the late 1980s and 1990s and widening disparity in mortality rates, as well as the
implementation of pro-equity strategic health measures (incorporating He Korowai Oranga) and a
narrowing of that disparity gap (Tobias, et al., 2009, p.1720):
…the pattern seen in New Zealand of widening then narrowing ethnic health inequalities coinciding
with neoliberal followed by pro-equity changes in social and health policies suggests that both
changes in the distribution of social determinants and an appropriate health system response
may be required to achieve timely gains in health equity. The New Zealand experience implies
that action by the health sector alone is necessary but not sufficient to address health inequalities.
The study also went on to suggest that the lag between the implementation of pro-equity policies and
observable results may be relatively short (Tobias, et al., 2009, p.1720):
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