Submission Template
To The Medical Council of New Zealand
Via email: [email protected]
Subject line: Consultation on Cultural Competence and Hauora Māori
Submission on Medical Council Draft Statements: Cultural Competence and Cultural Safety / Hauora Māori
I support the principle that all patients in New Zealand should receive respectful, culturally competent medical care. Doctors should communicate effectively with patients from all backgrounds and treat every patient with dignity and fairness.
However, I am concerned that the draft statements go beyond promoting good clinical practice and instead embed contested political and ideological concepts into professional regulation. Assertions about colonisation, privilege, and power structures represent particular interpretations of history and society that are widely debated. Doctors should not be required to endorse such views as part of their professional obligations.
The Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 already requires doctors to demonstrate cultural competence, including effective engagement with Māori patients. Additional guidance should focus on practical aspects of patient care rather than political frameworks.
Professional regulators exist to protect patients and ensure professional competence, not to require adherence to ideological positions. Any guidance should remain consistent with the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act, which protects freedom of expression, including the right not to be compelled to express views one does not hold.
I therefore ask the Medical Council to revise the draft statements so that they focus on practical cultural competence in patient care, avoid embedding contested political theories, and remain clearly within the Council’s statutory role of ensuring safe and competent medical practice.
(Name and email address)