A study of submissions made to the Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) Bill has suggested that identifying Pākehā “standard story” discourses will enable the development of tools and procedures to eliminate institutional racism. A total of 3,000 individual submissions made in late 2021 were reviewed, of which 2,536 contained explicit references to race. Five longer submissions inferring that the Pae Ora bill was “racist” were analysed in detail. Many “standard story” race discourses were identified in the submissions. The study author described three derived discourses: Pākehā as norm (monoculturalism or not seeing Pākehā as a culture), equality and the “Treaty” (equality for all to access healthcare), and one people (we are all New Zealanders). Alternative discourses were provided using sources such as the Waitangi Tribunal Wai 2575 Hauora report.
