UNCONSCIOUS BIAS AND EDUCATION

Racial attacks
Data from the 2011/2012 New Zealand Health Survey – a national survey of
approximately 13,000 adults and 4500 children (New Zealand Ministry of Health,
2012) – indicated Māori are almost three times as likely as non-Māori to have
experienced unfair treatment on the basis of ethnicity. 12.4% of Māori reported
unfair treatment in the areas of health care, housing or work between 2011 and
2012, compared to 4.2% of non-Māori. Data also showed Māori were more than 1.5
times more likely to have ever experienced ethnically motivated physical or verbal
attacks, with more than a quarter of Māori men, or 26.9%, having experienced such
attacks (New Zealand Ministry of Health, 2015). 10
Similarly, in 2013 the New Zealand Human Rights Commission 11 (NZHRC) received
496 complaints of racial discrimination from New Zealand citizens. People of Asian,
Polynesian and Māori descent all made complaints of racism, however, Māori
reported experiencing the most discrimination. The largest number of complaints
related to perceived discrimination in the employment area (not being given jobs or
given less favourable working conditions because of their race/ethnicity).
Health
There are major health disparities between Māori and Pākehā with Māori
experiencing higher rates of illness, infection and disease. 12
According to a 2012 report from the New Zealand Human Rights Commission
(NZHRC) the life expectancy for Māori men is 70.4 years and for non-Māori men it is
79.0 years. Life expectancy for Māori women is 75.1 years and for non-Māori women
it is 83.0 years. 13
Compared to Pākehā, Māori have been found to be less likely to receive appropriate
levels of screening and treatment of ischaemic heart disease (Bramley et al 2004). 14
Westbrooke, Baxter and Hogan (2011) found Māori men are less likely to receive
medical intervention for cardiac disease compared with European/Pākehā men. 15
Hill et al. (2010) 16 17 demonstrated that Māori have a significantly poorer cancer
survival rate than non-Māori: partly due to differences in the quality and standard of
medical treatment received.
Aroll (2002) 18 found Māori were significantly less likely to be treated with
antidepressant medication than non-Māori. Only 2 per cent of Māori diagnosed with
clinical depression were offered medication, compared with 45 per cent of non-
Māori patients with the same diagnosis.
Johnstone and Read (2001) 19 ascertained the beliefs of New Zealand psychiatrists
about issues pertaining to Māori mental health. A questionnaire involving closed
and open-ended questions was sent to 335 New Zealand psychiatrists. Twenty-eight
psychiatrists (11.3%), all male, New Zealand born, and with 10 or more years clinical
experience, believed that Māori were biologically or genetically more predisposed
than others to mental illness.
Māori women have been found to be less likely to receive pain relief during labour
and childbirth compared to Pākehā women (Ministry of Health 2006). 20
10