Te Pāti Māori welcomes the announcement of ‘Ban Conversion Therapy’ Bill 🏳️‍🌈 - Te Pāti Māori

Te Pāti Māori welcomes the announcement of ‘Ban Conversion Therapy’ Bill 🏳️‍🌈

Today the government has announced the proposed legislation to prohibit conversion practices, which confirms the intention to ban conversion therapy in Aotearoa.

“Te Paati Māori whole heartedly support and welcome this much needed and overdue announcement. We will always support whānau to be who they are, and conversion therapy, which tries to stop takatāpui from being who they are, has no place in Aotearoa.
“Te Ao Maori has always celebrated our diverse gender and sexual identities. It was colonisation that started criminalising and oppressing people for being who they are, turning us against our own whānau” said Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer.

“Banning conversion therapy is a necessary step in addressing the larger issue of the dire state of our mental health system in Aotearoa. Many of our mental health services are rooted in harmful colonial values that hurt our people, especially our Takatāpui whānau.
“We oppose any and all harmful colonial practices that serve to assimilate our people rather than heal, and cause our whānau to feel shame and guilt for being who they are. This is a momentous bill which puts us one step closer to an Aotearoa hou, where tangata whenua and tangata tiriti feel empowered and proud” said co-leader Rawiri Waititi.

“We acknowledge the work of Minister Faafoi for this kaupapa, and we encourage the government to go further in implementing legislative changes which support the rights and aspirations of takatāpui and the LGBTQI+ community” said Debbie Ngarewa-Packer.

We are sending a big mihi to all of the grassroots organisers and roopu who have been fighting hard and doing the mahi to make this change happen

Waititi writes to parties asking them to support removal of GST from food preview image

Waititi writes to parties asking them to support removal of GST from food

Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my bill to remove GST from kai,” said bill sponsor and Te Pāti Māori co-leader, Rawiri Waititi. “It shouldn’t matter where you sit on the political spectrum. Removing GST from kai should be a no brainer for any party who is serious about supporting whānau during a cost of living crisis. “Food is a right and a necessity that shouldn’t be taxed. We know that GST hits lower income whānau the hardest. “We should not be relying on people who are struggling to feed their tamariki to prop up our tax system.

We Will Never Back Down on Seabed Mining preview image

We Will Never Back Down on Seabed Mining

After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This is despite failing every environmental threshold and having their consent revoked by three separate courts. “It’s clear these corporations are feeling emboldened by this government and their fast-tracking legislation” said Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “TTR have already invested $50 million into their bid to pillage our seabed of minerals, and now they have the government backing them. We are gravely concerned for what this means for our rural communities who cannot afford endless court cases. “Iwi have won every court case against TTR, and have proven beyond doubt that this company cannot meet the environmental threshold. But here we are, back at this point.

Govt commits Māori to a premature death with axing of health authority, smokefree laws preview image

Govt commits Māori to a premature death with axing of health authority, smokefree laws

The government’s attack on Māori health this week is committing tangata-whenua to a premature death, says Te Pāti Māori. “The government have begun their onslaught on Māori health with the abolishment of the Māori Health Authority and smokefree laws in the same day” said health spokesperson and co-leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Our health system sees Māori die seven years earlier than non-Māori. We are two-to-three times more likely to be engulfed with cancer and sixty percent more likely to die after diagnosed. “The writing is on the wall, it’s in the wards and oncology units across the country.

Te Pāti Māori request urgent debate to stop dictatorship government preview image

Te Pāti Māori request urgent debate to stop dictatorship government

Te Pāti Māori has this morning written to the speaker of the house requesting an urgent debate around the use and abuse of urgency to expedite the progression of its agenda, including the disestablishment of the Māori health authority. “The governments use and abuse of urgency has created a dictatorship in what should be a Tiriti-led democratic state,” said co-leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “The Executive has destroyed public, judicial and legislative oversight and participation. Urgency has been used in every sitting week of the 2024 sitting year - it is an abuse of government’s power. “We have seen urgency used to abolish three waters legislation, workers’ rights including fair-pay agreements, 90-day trials, and section 27 cultural reports.

Members bill to remove GST from kai, pulled from ballot preview image

Members bill to remove GST from kai, pulled from ballot

Te Pāti Māori co-leader and Member for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi is ecstatic his members bill to remove GST from kai has been drawn from the ballot. “For the last three-years Te Pāti Māori have been calling on the previous and current governments to implement real change and address the cost-of-living crisis,” said co-leader Rawiri Waititi. “I am excited that my bill to remove GST from kai has been drawn from the ballot. It is the start of the radical shake-up our taxation system in this country needs. “I am calling on all parties in the house to support my bill. “We have had overwhelming support on the Te Pāti Māori petition to remove GST off kai. In a Newshub poll, over 70% of people supported the move prior to the election. “It is clear the people want GST to be removed from their grocery bills.

Over-promising government under delivering for Aotearoa preview image

Over-promising government under delivering for Aotearoa

Te Pāti Māori is labelling this government as one that has over promised and under delivered as it announces its mini budget of cut backs. “The government have done the public dirty, over-promising and under delivering for those suffering hardship in a cost of living crisis,” said co-leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “This budget again fails to acknowledge how tough people are finding it. It is simply a budget of cut backs to ensure they can look after their rich mates.

Te Pāti Māori Stands with Workers preview image

Te Pāti Māori Stands with Workers

Te Pāti Māori will be strongly opposing the Fair Pay Agreements Legislation Repeal Bill this Government is trying to pass before Christmas. 30 years ago, the Employment Contracts Act 1991 removed sector-wide bargaining from our industrial relations system. According to unionist and workers’ rights advocate Annie Newman, this implemented “one of the most radical individualised employment relations systems in the world. The Fair Pay Agreements Act 2022 would have significantly lifted wages and employment conditions for workers, particularly those on low incomes.

Māori will die to fund tax cuts preview image

Māori will die to fund tax cuts

By scrapping Aotearoa’s world-leading smokefree laws, this government is sacrificing Māori lives to fund tax cuts for the wealthy. Not only is this plan revolting, but it doesn’t add up. Treasury has estimated that the reversal of smokefree laws to pay for tax cuts will cost our health system $5.25bn, and cut productivity growth by $5.88bn. Smoking is the leading cause of premature deaths in Aotearoa, particularly for Māori who have the highest rates of smoking in the country. The Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Smoked Tobacco) Amendment Bill would have seen Aotearoa smokefree within a generation, saving up to 5,000 lives each year. “This Government is putting tobacco industry profits before Māori lives” said Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “They are relying on addiction to fuel tax cuts for their rich mates. It’s vile.

Luxon’s Government will whitewash Aotearoa preview image

Luxon’s Government will whitewash Aotearoa

NZ First has gotten their wish to ‘take our country back’ to the 1800s with a policy program that will white-wash Aotearoa and erase tangata whenua rights. By disestablishing the Māori Health Authority this Government has condemned Māori to die seven years earlier than Pākehā. By removing Treaty obligations from Oranga Tamariki this Government will displace a generation of tamariki from their whakapapa and continue the cycle of trauma.

Te Pāti Māori call for Foreign Affairs CEO to be sacked preview image

Te Pāti Māori call for Foreign Affairs CEO to be sacked

Te Pāti Māori have called for the resignation of the Ministry of Foreign and Trade chief executive Chris Seed following his decision to erase te reo Māori from government communications. While the country still waits for a new government to be formed, Mr Seed took it upon himself to undermine his office’s obligations to Māori without any prior consultation. Mr Seed is either bowing to the anti-Māori rhetoric that was prevalent throughout the election campaign, or he has only been paying lip service to te reo Māori until we had a change of government. “The Ministry is happy to sell our culture and language overseas while showing no respect for it at home” said Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi. “If this is how you are going to treat te iwi Māori behind closed doors then you are unfit for office and need to step down” said Waititi.