The North Island Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency has had another win in the High Court from its battle with the Ministry of Health for data, on unvaccinated North Island Māori.
Chair Merepeka Raukawa-Tait acknowledges that this is good news although she says it comes as a "bitter-sweet" victory.
“Relationships are now fractured. We’ve had to go through this process twice, putting pressure on us and our financial resources, so that’s disappointing,” she says.
“However, we’ve done what we’ve had to do to make sure we got the data of our people and that’s all we’ve wanted to do.”
As a result of the High Court ruling, the Ministry of Health now has to deliver all unvaccinated data within 72 hours of the decision to Whānau Ora and disclose Māori awaiting their second vaccination within the past three weeks.
"This data will help us to identify where these gaps are, and this information will be given to our providers who work with iwi and then they can take the necessary action to help our whanau,” Raukawa-Tait says.
She says Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern must now take back control and not let unelected bureaucrats make important decisions, especially concerning Māori.
“Having to go to the High Court twice in four weeks to win justice requires the prime minister and her mnisters to take back control of the Ministry of Health.”