A message from Mike Tully on Te Wiki o te Reo Māori

Our data tells us Māori are more likely to sustain a life-changing injury but are less likely to make a claim with us than non-Māori. It’s a worrying trend and one we must look to turn around.

Te Wiki o te Reo Māori provides an opportunity to celebrate and encourage people to learn and we’re doing this in many different ways at ACC this week.

It’s also an opportunity to reflect on how we’re honouring our purpose and making sure we uphold our Te Tiriti o Waitangi responsibilities.

Our approach to this is based on doing the right thing. That’s at the heart of Whāia Te Tika (‘Pursue What is Right’) – our strategy to improve the lives of Māori all over our beautiful motu.

We acknowledge that in the past there has generally been a lack of understanding within iwi, hapū and whānau circles about what it means to interact with ACC, and the types of injuries we support and services we fund.

And, for many years, whānau have been asking ACC for access to kaupapa Māori pathways that align with tikanga Māori practices and principles.

We’ve listened.

"We’re building our own cultural capability to help us improve health and wellbeing outcomes for Māori and are exploring new ways to connect." - Mike Tully, Acting CEO

Last year, for example, we enabled better access to rongoā Māori (traditional healing) and since then have been growing the service and educating our kaimahi.

This is already bringing results. One in four people who have so far benefitted from rongoā have not previously received any other form of ACC care or treatment.

But we’re aware there is still much to be done as we aim to improve equity of choice, access, experience and outcomes for Māori.

We’re taking a ‘nothing about Māori, without Māori’ approach to how we work.

This means we will provide space for kaupapa Māori leadership to lead, support and develop our actions in all things Māori.

We will continue to look at ways to develop new services that provide choice for Māori as we work towards our goal of creating a unique partnership with every New Zealander and improving their quality of life.

As we celebrated Te Wiki o te Reo Māori at ACC this week, I reflected on my te reo journey which started with attending a te ao Maori language course at Te Wānanga o Aotearoa here in Wellington.

This gave me the confidence to learn more and to use more te reo. I would encourage others to do the same, to take any learning opportunity and to build their confidence to use te reo.

This confidence also applies to all we do and strive for at ACC. I’m proud to lead our ACC whānau and know that each and every one of them also lives by this ambition:

Ko tā tātou whāinga nui, kia piki ake te oranga o te tangata ia rā. Our purpose is to improve lives every day.

Kia kaha te reo Māori!

Āta haere e hoa mā.

Ngā mihi

Mike Tully

ACC Acting Chief Executive