New Zealand is in the midst of a huge surge in measles cases, with almost 900 in Auckland, and more than 1100 confirmed cases notified across the country.

Just 53 of the people who caught measles this year had been vaccinated.

O'Sullivan blames Andrew Wakefield - a struck-off doctor responsible for the fraudulent study that claimed the MMR vaccine caused autism - for the 300 per cent increase in cases of measles across the globe in the past 12 months.

"Now what I say to anti-vaxxers is, 'Go live on an island'" says O'Sullivan.

Last week he reiterated his call for New Zealand to adopt Australia's "no jab, no pay" strategy and introduce a higher tax rate for those who do not vaccinate their children.

But the Government says there's no evidence to show sanctions or compulsion around vaccinations is effective.

In a statement to Stuff, the Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter said there was a broad political agreement that children should not be punished for parents' choices.

O'Sullivan has been a long-time advocate for vaccination.

In 2017 he stormed a screening of the anti-vaccination movie Vaxxed, telling the audience they were responsible for children dying.

He has called for all parents to be forced to vaccinate as far back as 2015 when Australia first brought in the no jab, no pay policy.

The Ministry of Health's director-general Ashley Bloomfield last week said much of New Zealand's shortfall in vaccination rates were related to vaccine hesitancy and access issues rather than being directly due to anti-vaxxer sentiment.

However, the University of Auckland's vaccinologist Helen Petousis-Harris said vaccine hesitancy was a direct result of anti-vaxxers activities.

Source

• newstalkzb.co.nz
• stuff.co.nz
• nzherald.co.nz
• Image: thespinoff.co.nz

He has also proposed that the Hato Petera site should be used for a hostel for Maori students attending other schools in the area, on the model of Auckland Grammar School's InZone hostel in Epsom.

He said he told the minister of education Chris Hipkins about his proposal to transfer Vanguard just before Hipkins announced the closure of Hato Petera on August 31.

A spokesman for Hipkins confirmed that O'Sullivan outlined the proposal at a principals' conference at Wairakei on August 30, but said the minister was "non-committal" about it.

O'Sullivan, a former Hato Petera student, has produced videos telling the stories of four Vanguard students in an effort to stop parliament passing a bill to abolish charter schools such as the military academy.

He says after five years Vanguard has demonstrated by its academic results that it genuinely transforms lives and has provided a positive and aspirational pathway for rangatahi who were failed by the mainstream education system.

Vanguard Military School is a co-educational charter school located in Albany.

It opened in 2014 and was the first of 11 charter schools to apply to become part of the state education system under the changes Labour made to the charter school system.

In May Hipkins gave approval for Vanguard to become a designated character state school.

In 2019 it will become a full secondary school with up to 312 students from Years 9 to 13.

At present, it teaches the New Zealand Curriculum to Year 11, 12 and 13 students with the specific aim of gaining the NCEA and UE qualifications.

The school uses the ethos and training methodology of the military which it says helps students, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, to achieve attitudinal and academic excellence.

Source

• nzherald.co.nz
• vanguard.school
• voxy.co.nz
• maoritelevision.com
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The company was established by Kaitaia GP, Dr Lance O'Sullivan and his wife Tracy O'Sullivan

Both nominations are due in large part to iMOKO, a healthcare software program which utilises technology to deliver high quality basic health services.

iMOKO started out as a grassroots initiative.

"Members of my community approached me at my practice, telling me they couldn't get access to the healthcare services they needed," Lance explains.

So iMOKO was developed by Navilluso Medical to target communities with high needs and vulnerable children.

Lance figured if he could get the right technology within the communities, and train locals to use it he would not only reduce staff costs but increase care.

iMOKO "is is a digital healthcare platform where we are actually wanting to democratise health care by putting simple technologies in to the hands of whanau to achieve better health outcomes."

The iMOKO programme starts by placing smart tablets with iMOKO software into schools and early child care centres.

Lance and his team train approved people to conduct health assessments of common child health problems, such as skin and dental infections, strep throat, and head lice.

He believes the relationships already established between kaiawhina and tamariki is beneficial when assessing the health of vulnerable children.

So from a "kanohi ki te kanohi" point of view, its actually about optimising who's the best person to be the face of health care.

Around 6000 children across 110 sites from all over the country are in the iMOKO database to date.

Lance says this is only the beginning and his ultimate goal is to have 400,000 children accessing health care through iMOKO.

Source

• inner.kiwi
• maoritelevision.com
• Image: Screenshot Maori Television

The 12-person trust board had been reduced to five after a number of recent resignations.

The present chairman, Tame Te Rangi, retained his position.

Hato Petera Collge has two boards.

One is the Whanau Hato Petera Trust, which is responsible for the dorms and the lease of the land.

The other is the Board of Trustees, which is responsible for education.

The Whanau Hato Petera Trust does not come directly under the authority of the Ministry of Education.

Dr Lance O'Sullivan says he is now confident the new board will address the issues facing the school.

Earlier he had said governance at the school was poor.

He said allegations of bullying were not being investigated properly and students were being let down.

In a teleconference vote of no confidence in the chairman earlier this month there were four votes in favour and one against.

However, Te Rangi said the vote had no authority as they didn't meet quorum threshold under the Trust's deed.

Education Minister Hekia Parata said, "The Ministry was made aware of the steps that the college took, was it satisfied with the steps that the college took to address those bullying issues? At that time, yes."

The college principal, Hone Matthews, says he thinks that appropriate actions have been taken to address the bullying incident.

Matthews is also the chief executive of the Whanau Trust Board.

Nor did the chairman of the school's Board of Trustees, Mate Webb, agree with O'Sullivan's concerns.

The principal and the BOT chairman say the major issues are being overlooked, such as those raised in the ERO report including around dilapidated buildings, governance, and the lease of the land.

Webb says, "We're squabbling amongst ourselves, but we aren't the enemy, the diocese is."

"In his (O'Sullivan's) statements to the media he hasn't mentioned the diocese or the lease, or the poor state of these buildings," he said.

An Education Review Office report cited a Treaty claim as one of a number of issues at Hato Petera, along with safety and accommodation concerns.

Uncertainty surrounded the tenure of the lease agreement on the school and the hostel facilities, it said.

The Auckland Catholic Diocese has granted Hato Petera a five-year extension, sparking fears it wanted to shut the school and sell the land.

Old boys of Hato Petera have lodged a Treaty of Waitangi claim on the property and surrounding land, including AUT's Northcote campus.

The submission was made by Nga Tauira Tawhito o Hato Petera, a pan-tribal organisation with 1200 members made up of affiliated Catholic Maori who share an allegiance to the college and which is claiming the land.

The submission said, "Our Treaty claim concerns the 376 acres [152ha] awarded ... by way of a Crown grant to the Catholic Church in 1850 and the subsequent maladministration of that land.

A spokeswoman for Bishop Pat Dunn said he was overseas so no comment was possible.

Dr Lance O'Sullivan is a Kaitaia GP who was named Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year last year and Maori of the Year in 2013.

Source

• radionz.co.nz
• waateanews.com
• maoritelevision.com
• maoritelevision.com
• Image:radionz.co.nz

Dr O'Sullivan attributes a real turnaround in his life when he was accepted as a student at Hato Petera (St Peter's) College.

Expelled from two schools before thriving at Hato Petera, he went on to be Head Boy, sports champion and College Dux.

The support and encouragement he received at Hato Petera shaped his philosophy towards his patients.

However, Dr O'Sullivan also pays great tribute to his mother who raised her large family without the help of a man in the house.

She worked tirelessly to give her children the best possible start in life under often difficult circumstances. She still helps out with his work and his family, he said.

"Rob people of their self-belief and you deny them a bright future. I believed I couldn't be anything other than the naughty boy teachers perceived me to be. So I'll never turn a kid away and say he's a lost cause or a patient when people say he's just trouble," said Dr O'Sullivan.

O'Sullivan is married to Tracey and they have seven children.

He is honoured for his leadership, vision and advocacy in healthcare. His low-cost health clinic Te Kohanga Whakaora ("The Nest of Wellness") has made basic healthcare more accessible for people in the far north.

Source

• nzawards.org.nz
• catholicnetwork.org.nz
• Catholic Diocese of Auckland
• Image: The Northern Advocate

Sir Peter Blake Trust chief executive Shelley Campbell praises O'Sullivan's dedication to eradicating child poverty.

"He is a tireless advocate for insulating houses and healthy lifestyle programmes, in addition to training New Zealand medical students across the country in responsive primary and community healthcare," Ms Campbell said.

O'Sullivan has worked to help communities in Northland, mainly in Kaitaia where he and his wife Tracey have set up a low-cost clinic, Te Kohanga Whakaora.

He said he believes in quality healthcare for all.

"It's come from my upbringing and my solo mum and seeing what she had to go through. We don't come from a lot of wealth. My mum, who is a Pakeha, was a cleaner and my dad worked in the freezing works.

"I'm a young Maori dad now and I have a skill - as a doctor - that is very much needed in this community. I'm really honoured to be here doing what I do."

The 41-year-old grew up in Auckland. He decided to move his family north with the hope of helping Maori. He opened his own practice in November last year, after leaving Te Hauora o Te Hiku o Te Ika over disputes about managing patients who cannot pay.

As well as setting up his medical practice O'Sullivan has been instrumental in establishing several programmes aimed at to improving child health. The Manawa Ora Korokoro Ora (Moko) programme, based at Kaitaia Primary School, aims to give medical care to up to 2000 children at 14 primary and intermediate schools.

The Kainga Ora - focuses on fixing cold, run-down homes to make sure all children in the community grow up in a warm and healthy environment.

The golden boy of Maori health, who counts Associate Health Minister Tariana Turia among his allies, hasn't always had it this good.

He was raised by a solo mum as a part-Maori boy in the mostly Pakeha Auckland suburb of Howick.

"It wasn't a place that was fully supportive of trying to find out who you are as a young Maori man," he says.

The young Lance developed a reputation as a trouble-maker and, after being expelled from two schools, his mum packed him off to a boarding college for Maori boys, Hato Petera on Auckland's North Shore.

It was a turning point for the 15-year-old and his first real exposure to the Maori world.

"As a part-Maori child at school the perception was that you were going to be trouble. After three years at Hato Petera I went from being the kid who got expelled from two schools to being dux, head boy and sports champion."

O'Sullivan put the change down to an environment that encouraged and recognised his skills. The experience had a profound effect on his beliefs as a doctor.

Source

• The New Zealand Herald
• NZDoctor.co.nz
• The Northern Advocate
• Image: The Northern Advocate