The Nursing Council states that it is committed to ensuring Te Tiriti o Waitangi is instilled into the values of their organisation and is fundamental to the way in which the Council undertakes its statutory roles.
As a regulatory authority, independent from the Crown, they state they have a responsibility to work with iwi and Māori to give effect to and realise the promise of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
They state that achieving this will require time, flexibility and the ability to self-reflect, at both Governing Board level and internally as an organisation. With a specific focus on the nursing profession, their success as a Council will be shaped by their ability and capacity to form a range of relationships with iwi and Maori.
Through convention, the Articles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi have been interpreted and expressed through a set of principles. Importantly, the principles that we consider relevant to our work are premised on the most recent Waitangi Tribunal Claim – Wai 2575: the Health Services and Outcomes Inquiry.
They say that they consider this enhanced set of principles provide deeper clarity and guidance.
So let’s consider the facts behind this racist bullshit being promoted by the Nursing Council.
The first thing we need to look at is the Nursing Council’s role in the NZ Health System.
In their Strategic Plan they claim that their Statutory Purpose is as follows:
We are the regulatory authority responsible for the registration of nurses. Our primary function is to protect the health and safety of members of the public by ensuring that nurses are competent and fit to practise.
The Strategic Plan states:
Our commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi
Our work respects the obligations we have as a Te Tiriti partner to acknowledge, support, and enhance Mana Māori, Mana Motuhake, and Mana Tangata. Our work is guided by the following principles.
• Equity: This requires us to commit to achieving equitable health outcomes for Māori through the statutory functions that we undertake.
• Partnership: This requires us to work with iwi/Māori in a strong and enduring relationship.
• Tino Rangatiratanga: This provides for Māori self-determination and Mana Motuhake. It requires us to work with partners in the design, delivery, and monitoring of our relevant statutory work.
• Options: This requires us to ensure that our services are provided in a culturally appropriate way that recognises and supports the expression of te ao Māori models of care and nursing.
• Active protection: This requires us to be well-informed on the extent, and nature, of both Māori health outcomes and efforts to achieve Māori health equity through culturally safe nursing standards and the practice of cultural safety
The Nursing Council claims that they have obligations under the Treaty of Waitangi but as was shown in the recent government statement related to the “Education and Training Amendment Bill” which said the Treaty is an obligation for the Crown, not schools and that schools should be focused on ensuring high achievement for all students, not on figuring out how to give effect to the Treaty.
The same situation applies in regard to the Nursing Council. The Treaty provides obligations for the Crown not the Nursing Council. As stated in their Strategic Plan, the Nursing council is a regulatory authority independent from the Crown and as such they cannot have any direct obligations under the Treaty of Waitangi.
Their obligation to all NZ citizens is:
To be the regulatory authority responsible for the registration of nurses with the primary function of protecting the health and safety of members of the public by ensuring that nurses are competent and fit to practice.
In their strategic Plan they set out a list of claimed obligations under the Treaty of Waitangi but given the fact that they don’t have any obligations under the Treaty of Waitangi, the following should be the true outcomes under those headings:
Equity:
The Nursing Council must commit to achieving equitable health outcomes for all NZ citizens through the statutory functions that they undertake.
Partnership:
There is no requirement under the Treaty of Waitangi for the Nursing Council to enter into any partnership with Maori.
Tino Rangatiratanga:
Given that there is no requirement for a partnership there is also no requirement for the Nursing Council to support Māori self-determination and Mana Motuhake through their work with partners in the design, delivery, and monitoring of relevant statutory work.
Options:
The Nursing Council should ensure that their services are provided in a culturally appropriate way that recognises and supports models of care and nursing appropriate for all NZ citizens and their individual ethnicities.
Active protection:
The Nursing Council should be well-informed on the extent, and nature, of both health outcomes and efforts to achieve health equity; through safe nursing standards and the practice of cultural safety, for all NZ citizens regardless of their individual ethnicities.
The NZ Nursing Council Strategic Plan claims the following are their values:
Our values
We are respectful: We act with integrity, upholding the highest ethical standards, seeking out and listening to the views of others. We ensure out processes are fair, impartial, and equitable.
We are collaborative: We foster strong relationships with each other and our stakeholders. We work with our regulatory partners in Aotearoa New Zealand, and internationally, to enhance nursing practice and protect public health and safety.
We are accountable: We promote honesty and transparency in all regulatory activities. We hold ourselves and the nursing profession to account for meeting high standards of professional conduct and competence. We place the safety and well-being of the public at the heart of what we do.
We are inclusive: We value diverse perspectives and experiences. We make our processes and information accessible, understandable, and user-friendly.
These values can only truly be upheld if they are to apply to all NZ citizens regardless of race colour or creed.
They cannot claim to be respectful, collaborative, accountable and inclusive, if they are going to have different rules depending on what a person’s ethnic background is.
Their statutory purpose in itself should make them blind to issues of race colour or creed and only see competency and fitness to practice.
To provide indoctrination into the Treaty of Waitangi as part of the requirements for nurse training and certification is nothing short of Apartheid based on the ideological beliefs of a small minority of the population.
What they should be doing is what is required under their Statutory Purpose Statement; i.e. ensuring that the nurses certified by the council are adequately trained, qualified and fit to practice so as to ensure the health and safety of members of the public.
Regardless of any patients ethnicity nurses should be trained to treat them all with dignity and respect their beliefs whichever religion they may follow. After all they are employed to ensure good health outcomes in a dignified and respectful manner for all citizens of NZ not provide ideological propaganda for any particular ethnic group.
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By Andy Loader, Poke the Bear