Hei Āhuru Mōwai Māori Cancer Leadership Network Aotearoa stands firmly in rejecting the Treaty Principles Bill
Ka tangi te kura, ka tangi wiwini, ka tangi te kura, ka tangi wawana E te rōpu manatika, nei rā te kura o Hei Āhuru Mōwai e tangi nei, e haku nei. Auē taukiri ē..
Submission Summary
1. Hei Āhuru Mōwai totally oppose the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill (“the Bill”) and recommend that it be withdrawn immediately.
2. Recommend that the Crown adopt the full recommendations set out in the Waitangi Tribunal’s Ngā Mātāpono report.
Hei Āhuru Mōwai Māori Cancer Leadership Network Aotearoa stands firmly in rejecting the Treaty Principles Bill and urgently calls on the Government to uphold its commitment to advancing the hauora outcomes for whānau impacted by cancer. The road ahead is challenging, but together, we can and must drive meaningful change, ensuring our communities receive the care, respect, and support they deserve. The time to act is now.
Reasoning
Hei Āhuru Mōwai passionately affirm Te Tiriti o Waitangi as the cornerstone of Aotearoa New Zealand—an enduring symbol of the indigenous rights of Māori and a living testament to the rights and responsibilities entrusted to tangata Tiriti by Māori as tangata whenua. The true power of Te Tiriti lies not just in its words, but in the spirit in which it was crafted and agreed upon. This spirit is one of deep respect, safeguarding Māori rights as tangata whenua, while recognizing the shared rights and responsibilities of tangata Tiriti.
Te Tiriti reflects the sacred covenant our tūpuna upheld, rooted in the ancestral gifts passed down through generations, and the promises made for the future of our whānau and iwi. It is a living document that binds us to the wisdom and foresight of those who walked before us, shaping the destiny of generations to come.
Rather than honouring Te Tiriti as the powerful founding document that charted a course for lasting peace, unity, and mutual prosperity, this Bill seeks to strip away the very provisions that give Māori a voice in the decisions that matter most to us. This is a direct challenge to the principles of selfdetermination and respect for Māori sovereignty.
The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (Article 23) boldly declares that “Indigenous peoples have the right to determine and develop priorities and strategies for exercising their right to development.” It goes on to affirm that Indigenous peoples must have an active role in shaping the health, housing, and economic programmes that affect us—and, wherever possible, should have the power to administer these programmes through our own institutions. This Bill Page | 2 undermines those fundamental rights, diminishing Māori autonomy and disregarding our rightful place in shaping the future of our whānau and communities.”
It is these rights that our organisation is enacting.
The proposed principles erase the very essence of Te Tiriti o Waitangi by removing the words tino rangatiratanga—the core of our sovereignty and the collective authority of Māori to shape our own futures, grounded in our laws, customs, and ways of being. This Bill doesn’t just tinker with the Treaty—it makes it nearly impossible to uphold the promises made to us in Te Tiriti o Waitangi. While the original text remains untouched, the Treaty Principles will determine how the Treaty is applied in law, effectively gutting the partnership between the New Zealand Government and Māori. It will strip away the distinct status of Māori as the tangata whenua of this land, diminishing our rights and denying our place at the heart of Aotearoa's identity.
Te Tiriti o Waitangi is an essential part of our democracy, and we need leaders in Government and health systems to maintain the āhurutanga of its legal, social and cultural responsibilities.
Māori experience substantial inequities in cancer outcomes. Cancer care pathways are not designed for Māori health gain. Māori receive delayed, poorer quality treatment, and Māori with cancer are twice as likely to die after diagnosis compared to non-Māori.
Cancer incidence is forecast to increase by 50% over the next 15 years. This will have an extraordinary and disproportionate impact on Māori. This is not a reflection of Māori as a people, but of the health systems that were designed not to respect or protect us.
Whānau affected by cancer have voiced their concerns that the health system needs to embody Te Tiriti o Waitangi:
“Tino rangatiratanga and kāwanatanga (is needed) at different levels – different leadership at different levels in the regions and up to the top.”
“The health system does not trust each other but they need to trust us Māori to know what we need.”
“The Coalition Government is allowing this harmful, bad-faith Bill to drain the precious resources and energy of those of us fighting to change the inequitable cancer outcomes for whānau. We are in a race against time, and every moment spent battling this distraction pulls us further away from the lifesaving work we are desperately committed to. We cannot afford to be sidetracked—whānau are relying on us to make real change, and we will not let this Bill stand in our way.
Our whakapapa | Reflects ‘Tino Rangatiratanga’ in action
Hei Āhuru Mōwai is a national network and kaupapa Māori charity committed to rangatiratanga in cancer control and eliminating cancer inequities for whānau Māori. Our ingoa, Hei Āhuru Mōwai, embodies our mission which is to provide a safe space for Māori cancer specialists to come together, wānanga and collectively address Māori cancer inequities.
Hei Āhuru Mōwai was born from a fierce group of Māori leaders, driven by the injustice of the cancer inequities plaguing our people. Disenfranchised by a health system that failed to serve us, we took matters into our own hands—creating our own structures and network to demand a seat at the table and reshape New Zealand's cancer control policy, design, and decision-making. In 2012, Ngāti Maniapoto kaumatua Kingi Turner gifted us a name—Hei Āhuru Mōwai, meaning "sheltered haven"—a powerful symbol of our commitment to providing a sanctuary for whānau and a voice for those who have long been ignored.
Hei Āhuru Mōwai contributed to the New Zealand Cancer Control Strategy: Action Plan 2005-2010 and the current New Zealand Cancer Action Plan 2019 -2029, working closely alongside the Ministry of Health Cancer Team.
At the 2018 Indigenous Peoples and Cancer Symposium Hei Āhuru Mōwai presented a draft call to action on cancer for Indigenous peoples worldwide. This culminated into a letter to the World Health Organisation requesting support for member states to work with their Indigenous leaders and communities to improve the health of Indigenous peoples by facilitating the appropriate, acceptable, accurate, and timely collection of health-related data for Indigenous peoples, reporting regularly on strategies and plans to support the general and cancer-related health of Indigenous peoples, the health status of Indigenous populations in general, and on cancer outcomes specifically.
Hei Āhuru Mōwai was fundamental in the development of Te Aho o Te Kahu | Cancer Control Agency (the Agency) and gifted the Agency its Te Reo name. The Agency works closely with Hei Āhuru Mōwai to partner on matters? (policy, plans and systems decisions) affecting whānau Māori affected by cancer.
Since then, with determination and perseverance, through changing political landscape, Hei Āhuru Mōwai has grown significantly as a respected Te Tiriti partner organisation in the Aotearoa cancer control system and over 100 members nationwide.
We are one of the only Māori led networks of Māori cancer specialists, researchers, clinicians and whānau with the expertise to lead change in cancer inequities for whānau across Aotearoa.
We provide system leadership, inform and influence national cancer control policy and advocate on issues that affect whānau Māori. We also actively research and provide research expertise to the health sector.
It is because of our whakapapa—our deep ancestral roots—that Hei Āhuru Mōwai stands unwaveringly alongside our whānau and members, demanding the rejection of the Treaty Principles Bill. We do this to protect the progress we have fought so hard for, alongside our Government and Non-Government partners, in pursuit of our bold vision: equitable Māori cancer survival by 2030. This is not just a goal; it is a promise to our people, and we will not let anything stand in the way of fulfilling it.
Ko te matepukupuku ki te pō, ko te whānau Māori ki te whei ao, ki te ao mārama
Signed Hei Āhuru Mōwai Board of Trustees & CEO.