Tauiwi (Settler) Visioning an Antiracist Health System for Aotearoa Before the National-led Coalition Government

In Aotearoa, systemic ethnic inequities are longstanding and fuelled by the intergenerational impacts of colonisation and systemic racism. Our health system disadvantages Māori (the Indigenous peoples of Aotearoa) while Pākehā (white settlers) are advantaged. This paper addresses a literature gap by describing a Tauiwi (settler) vision of an antiracist health system. It is a companion piece to a Māori-led paper on the same topic.

An exploratory qualitative design, informed by kaupapa Māori research, drew on three virtual wānanga (learning spaces) with twenty-eight Tauiwi health practitioners, activists and academics held in November 2021. A reflexive thematic analysis then generated four themes: i) honourable kāwanatanga and decolonisation; ii) building antiracism infrastructure; iii) understanding privilege and power; and iv) a shared commitment to transformation. Participants described a Tiriti o Waitangi-based health system as just, culturally safe, holistic, and well-being focused. Transforming the health system requires Indigenous leadership and the engaging of settler hearts, heads and hands in solidarity with those targeted by racism.