The role of Te Aka Whai Ora
Te Aka Whai Ora has been established as an independent statutory entity with specific responsibilities to the Crown and Māori. Our role includes providing policy and strategy advice to the Minister of Health on matters relevant to hauora Māori and having a unique role to uplift the voices of our whānau and our communities.
Te Aka Whai Ora undertook a programme of work to determine the protection and support needed for the future sustainability of rongoā, which included engaging with communities and providing feedback to Ministers. Further information on our engagement, including a map of hui, is shown here:
The development of the Therapeutic Products Act 2023
The Therapeutic Products Act 2023 (the Act) replaces the Medicines Act 1981 and the Dietary Supplements Regulations 1985. The Act is administered by Manatū Hauora. The draft Act is referred to as the Therapeutic Products Bill (the Bill).
For more information about the Act, head to:
Therapeutic Products Act 2023 No 37, Public Act Contents (New Zealand Legislation)(external link)
Therapeutic products regulatory regime | Manatū Hauora(external link)
If you would like to discuss how the Act may affect Māori, please contact Manatū Hauora at maorihealth@health.govt.nz
Te Aka Whai Ora has provided advice to Manatū Hauora, to Ministers and to the Select Committee during the development of the Bill. While we provided advice on a number of different aspects of the Bill, the main focus of our advice was around the regulation of rongoā Māori.
Our Te Aka Whai Ora position, informed by Te Tiriti o Waitangi and our engagement with tohunga and mātanga rongoā, is that rongoā Māori should not be regulated by the Crown.
With a commitment to openness and transparency, Te Aka Whai Ora is providing the timeline of policy and strategy advice that we have provided during the development of this legislation.
The timeline below outlines the engagement activities of Te Aka Whai Ora and advice to Ministers on the intersection between rongoā Māori and the Bill. It also links to relevant documents containing our advice.
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Date |
Action taken |
Documents/links |
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19 September 2022 |
Te Aka Whai Ora contributes to a joint briefing led by Manatū Hauora to the Minister of Health and the Associate Minister of Health (Māori Health) |
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24 November 2022 |
Te Aka Whai Ora provides advice on its rongoā Māori kaupapa to the Minister of Health and the Associate Minister of Health (Māori Health) |
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30 November 2022 |
Therapeutic Products Bill (the Bill) is introduced |
Therapeutic Products Bill introduced | Beehive.govt.nz(external link) |
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9 December 2022 |
Te Aka Whai Ora Board Chair, Tipa Mahuta, launches our rongoā kaupapa to empower Māori to determine the protection and support needed to support Māori to revitalise rongoā Māori, as the indigenous system of healing, wellbeing and hauora. |
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15 December 2022 |
Rongoā webpage added to www.teakawhaiora.nz and first pānui sent to rongoā stakeholders |
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14 December 2022 |
The Bill has its first reading in Parliament |
Therapeutic Products Bill – First reading | Parliament.nz(external link) |
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January 2023 |
Te Aka Whai Ora starts engagement with 500+ whānau regarding rongoā Māori |
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3 March 2023 |
Te Aka Whai Ora submits on the Bill setting out our advice, underpinned by our engagement with Māori, that rongoā should not be regulated by the Crown |
Te Aka Whai Ora Submission on the Therapeutic Products Bill [PDF, 462 KB] |
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14 March 2023 |
Te Aka Whai Ora collates submissions on the Bill which are relevant to rongoā Māori and provides these to the Minister of Health and Associate Minister of Health (Māori Health) |
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24 March 2023 |
Board Chair, Tipa Mahuta, and Chief Executive, Riana Manuel, present the Te Aka Whai Ora submission to the Health Select Committee |
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4 April 2023 |
Te Aka Whai Ora provides advice to the Minister of Health and the Associate Minister of Health (Māori Health) including feedback on the Bill received during engagement with the rongoā sector |
Briefing to Ministers – Update on the Te Aka Whai Ora rongoā kaupapa [PDF, 1.7 MB] |
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5 May 2023 |
Second pānui sent to update stakeholders about the Bill and how this could affect rongoā Māori |
Rongoā ki te Ao pānui #2 [PDF, 340 KB]
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12 May 2023 |
Te Aka Whai Ora provides feedback to the Minister of Health and the Associate Minister of Health (Māori Health) on the Cabinet paper ‘Exempting rongoā and small-scale producers of natural health products from the Therapeutic Products Bill.’ |
Aide-Mémoire to Ministers – Te Aka Whai Ora feedback on the Cabinet paper, ‘Exempting rongoā and small-scale producers of natural health products from the Therapeutic Products Bill’ [PDF, 835 KB](external link)
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14 June 2023 |
Initial Briefing to the Health Select Committee from Manatū Hauora is published |
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19 July 2023 |
The Therapeutic Products Bill goes through the Committee of the Whole and passes its third reading. |
Therapeutics Products Bill – Third Reading(external link) (Hansard Report) | www.parliament.nz(external link)
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26 July 2023 |
The Therapeutic Products Act receives Royal assent and passes into law. |
Therapeutic Products Act 2023 No 37, Public Act Contents – New Zealand Legislation(external link) |
