Health NZ's decision to target free GP and nurse services based on race shows how badly we need to see the delivery of ACT's "need, not race" coalition commitment, says ACT Health spokesperson Todd Stephenson.

"In Hawkes Bay, 14 to 24 year-olds who were recently receiving free GP services will now be excluded on the basis of their race. Health NZ's policy change means that a healthy, wealthy person with Māori or Pacific in their family tree will be prioritised above someone of Asian or European or African descent in more difficult circumstances.

"ACT has long said that targeting services based on race is lazy and divisive.

"There are plenty of good reasons, backed by science, to target health services, such for young people from poor families or with long-term health conditions. Race is not one of those good reasons, because the vast majority of health conditions are not race-based. Elevating race above other considerations inevitably means taxpayer money will be misdirected and young people in real need will miss out.

"If Health NZ stopped doling out free consultations based on race, they would have more resources at hand to expand eligibility based on economic deprivation or long-term conditions. That should be a no-brainer.

"The change in government should have sent a clear message to our bureaucracies that New Zealanders are sick and tired of race being put at the centre of everything. But clearly, Health NZ either didn't get the message, or is actively resisting it.

"Soon, Health NZ will have no excuses for this kind of discrimination. ACT's coalition agreement commits to 'Issue a Cabinet Office circular to all central government organisations that it is the Government’s expectation that public services should be prioritised on the basis of need, not race'."

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