The New Zealand Nurses Organisation Tōputanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa (NZNO) joins te ao Māori to mourn the loss of Dame Tariana Turia - a former Associate Minister of Health and Whānau Ora Minister.

NZNO Kaiwhakahaere Kerri Nuku says like nurses throughout Aotearoa, Dame Turia was passionate about achieving better health outcomes for Māori.

"Dame Turia was the most influential Māori politician so far this century to shift thinking on government health policy.

"She introduced the concept of whānau ora into the health system, and while that hasn’t been fully implemented yet, the seed has been planted.

"Dame Turia introduced policies aimed to achieve a smokefree Aotearoa. And she advocated for better support to improve the Māori nurse workforce and achieve pay parity for nurses everywhere, especially with especially Māori and iwi health providers."

Kerri Nuku said the sacrifices Dame Turia made to advance Māori health, and Māori rights, would not be forgotten by the Māori nursing community.

"She bled for our people! Her achievements didn’t just happen, she had to fight for them.

"We can only imagine the outcast treatment she would have got by exiting one political party to build another political party."

Kerri Nuku said much of what Dame Turia stood for was now under attack by the current Coalition Government but many Māori working in health are "drawing strength from her work".

"Our aroha goes to the whānau pani of Dame Turia - thank you to her children and mokopuna for giving us the taonga they did."

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