ACT's Brooke van Velden on PHARMAC, Chinese Genocide and He Puapua: May 5, 2021

This week James chatted to Brooke a few topics, starting off with PHARMAC. Recently PHARMAC has said they are unable to fund every cancer drug for children, as well as announcing they need another 400 million dollars to fund all the drugs they want to fund.

James and Brooke then chat about the Motion which Brooke is currently putting through parliament. The motion is for the NZ government to oppose China’s actions against the ethinic minority, Uyghur Muslims. The wording of the motion has had to be changed for it to be debated, however this means whether China is committing genocide will not be discussed.

They finish off our chat with the He puapua report, which has not been officially put out to the public. The report is a plan to realise the UN declaration on the rights of Indigenous peoples (UNDRIP) here in New Zealand. New zealand originally rejected the declaration in 2007, but has since adopted it. The report includes a number of recommendations such as  a Māori court system, health system, upper house or parliament; Māori wards and the protection of Māori seats in parliament; compulsory te reo Māori and New Zealand history in schools; joint governance bodies across all government agencies; and strengthening the legal recognition of Te Tiriti o Waitangi by putting it into law. Using the FPIC principle, it also recommends greater rights for Māori in areas such as fisheries and the RMA, and it recommends that Māori co-design and/or co-govern all Māori services. Both ACT and Nation have opposed the report, which is yet to be approved by cabinet.