“Regulatory bodies in the health sector are using the Treaty to justify putting ideology ahead of patient wellbeing and validated science,” says ACT Health spokesperson Todd Stephenson.

Pharmacy:

“ACT has been approached by pharmacists alarmed by the Pharmacy Council’s new competence standards which require frontline pharmacists to give effect to Te Tiriti at all levels, prioritise Māori voices, be familiar with Māori health models and be ‘confident to perform waiata tautoko’ (Māori songs).

“All of these unscientific requirements will only serve to distract from the best interests of individual patients, while making it harder for New Zealand to attract and retain talent from overseas.

“The good news is that the Minister responsible for Pharmac is David Seymour. David is now actively recruiting for free-thinking new members of the Pharmacy Council.”

Midwifery:

The Midwifery Council’s competency standards embed ‘the principles of self-determination, equity, and partnership as a foundation of midwifery practice’. Midwives are told to ‘strive to mitigate systemic discrimination and prejudices’. They are told to ‘value diversity of knowledge and perspectives of physiological processes’.

“The responsibility of a midwife should be to the best interests of the mother and their baby – not to Treaty ideology or non-scientific ideas about pregnancy,” says Mr Stephenson. “A Treaty focus in midwifery inevitably detracts from a midwife’s core duties, while also making it harder to attract and train wonderful midwives from overseas.

“I understand Health Minister Simeon Brown has put out a call for nominations for new members of the Midwifery Council. That is good news.”

Psychology:

“Meanwhile in psychology, the New Zealand Psychologists’ Board is introducing a new Code of Ethics to embed Treaty principles and matauranga Māori into psychological practice. Psychologists who've tried to have a say on the Code have been sidelined. Psychologists are instructed to challenge colonisation and respond to patients’ colour, race, sexuality, and socio-economic status.

“In other words, the best interests of patients will be sidelined in favour of ideology, and psychologists are told to see patients as members of identity groups, rather than as individuals with complex personal experiences.”

Nursing:

“Nurses have told me they are considering leaving New Zealand in response to new standards of competence, or ‘pou’, requiring nurses to use te reo and tikanga, describe the impact of colonisation, and advocate for cultural and spiritual health.

“Once upon a time, being a nurse was a matter of having the right skills and a kind heart. Now we are asking nurses to have the ‘correct’ views on the Treaty of Waitangi and to make assumptions about patients’ needs based on their ethnicity.”

Chinese medicine:

“In 2021 Labour set up the Chinese Medicine Council to regulate traditional Chinese medicine. The Council requires Chinese practitioners to honour the history of Māori as tangata whenua, challenge the bias of their colleagues, enact the principles of Te Tiriti, and embed 'bicultural principles'.

“Bicultural principles! It begs the question, which two cultures are recognised under this state-mandated bicultural worldview? How are Chinese acupuncturists and herbalists meant to fit in? It's absurd.”

Conclusion:

“Kiwis engaging with the health system deserve confidence that they will be treated first and foremost as humans, with individual needs that will be met based on validated science, not ideology.

“ACT is optimistic that in Simeon Brown, we have a Minister with the guts to get the Treaty ideology and wokeism out of the health system and restore focus to the needs of the patient.

“In the meantime, ACT is calling on political parties who share our concerns to support the Treaty Principles Bill. The Bill defines the Treaty principles in line with what was actually written in 1840, including the promise of the same rights and duties for all New Zealanders.”

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