Grim findings

Researchers at the universities of Auckland and Otago have found that almost all - 90 percent - of Maori doctors and medical students say they have experienced or witnessed racism in their education or work environments.

Of the 205 Maori medical students and 200 Maori physicians they surveyed, discrimination, bullying and harassment were common to all.

The research was published last week in JAMA Network Open, a monthly medical journal of the American Medical Association.

Institutional racism

Paediatrician Owen Sinclair (Te Rarawa) works at Waitakere Hospital. The findings are disheartening, he says.

"When you get into the system you see just how destructive it is to Maori. It's ambivalent to the needs of Maori.

"They come into this Pakeha system that's very rigid… and no one says ‘Kia Ora'.

"Maori have all these cultural needs and it's just not recognised as an issue."

Researchers also heard from many respondents that they had seen Maori patients and their whanau treated badly in clinical settings.

"There's not a lot of people running around sort of racially abusing Maori, but there's lots of decisions you can see being made that are made differently depending on whether someone's a Maori or Pakeha, and you see that a lot" Sinclair said.

"You see them getting sent home earlier, you see them not being able to get into ED. I think often people don't know they're doing it."

The study found some Maori doctors had even considered leaving or had taken a break from medicine because of their experiences.

Change needed

Urgent, systemic changes are needed, the researchers say.

This is critical to ensure medicine is safe for Indigenous medical students, physicians and communities.

"I'd like people to do something. There's been a lot of talking about addressing inequalities but there's actually very little that gets done to actually change it" Sinclair said.

"Maori working inside the system find it really difficult… it's very threatening sometimes."

Minister of Health's view

The Minister of Health Shane Reti says he did not experience racism during his 17 years as a GP.

"I firmly believe all interpersonal relationships need to start from a position of respect" he says.

"As a self-reported study this is useful in terms of gaining understanding of others' experiences within the system and of work to do in this area."

He now wants to see cultural understanding and competency within medicine established and maintained.

Respect is paramount, he emphasises.

"Levers such as the New Zealand Health Charter (Te Mauro o Rongo), the Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers' Rights, and individual colleges standing by their policies and practice will help reinforce this."

Source

• Stuff

They say they have chosen the 'no children' option because they don't want to contribute to climate change.

The research resulted in a report co-authored by Lincoln University's Samantha White, Dr Joya Kemper from the University of Auckland, and the University of Arizona's Dr Sabrina Helm.

The report: "No future, no kids-no kids, no future? An exploration of motivations to remain childfree in times of climate change," involved two studies.

The first examined reader comments on articles discussing choosing not to have children in response to climate change.

The other study included semi-structured interviews with people aged between 19 and 35-years-old. The interviews were carried out here and in the US.

"I would say the majority of the interview participants at least said they were not going to have kids, or they were going to look at adoption instead," White says.

"Some people were going to limit how many they were going to have but still felt guilty about potentially bringing them into a world that is 'doomed'.

"We found that many young people in our study were experiencing anxiety about what the future would look like as a result of climate change, which led them to questioning whether having kids or not was the right thing to do."

White says the respondents' concerns with having children were two-fold.

"Having children was recognised to contribute to climate change through increased emissions and consumption of resources, further exacerbating resource scarcity and environmental degradation," she says.

"Participants also expressed guilt from potentially subjecting their children and future generations to a world vastly different to the one they have enjoyed themselves."

Wider implications thrown up by the research suggest mental health issues in relation to climate change are emerging and need attention.

"From our own research, and other studies, it is evident that many people are experiencing severe impacts on their mental health as a result of climate change concerns," White says.

Deciding not to have children isn't a lightly made decision, she observes.

In her view, it shows that climate change has much broader effects "beyond just changes in weather and the environment.

"It is clear that many young people in our study are frustrated and resentful at having to consider forgoing having children largely due to perceived government inaction and lack of systemic change in relation to climate issues."

White says greater action is needed not only to mitigate further contributions to climate change, but also to address the already realised impacts, including those on public mental health.

Source

• Scoop
• Image: NewsHub

The university has launched an investigation after Chinese students were filmed verbally threatening another group of students who were protesting against a proposed extradition bill in Hong Kong. Two people at the protest were physically assaulted by pro-mainland supporters.

Continuing on-campus unrest is seeing Lennon Walls created by pro-Hong Kong factions destroyed by pro-mainlanders.

These walls provide a space for students to post peaceful thoughts and messages of support for those involved in the Hong Kong protests.

The UoA Vice-Chancellor Stuart McCutcheon has sent all UoA students an email reminding them they have the right speak their mind on campus.

Shortly after the email was circulated, a spokesperson for the China Consulate in Auckland published a press release.

It says the consulate does not believe it is appropriate for organisations to promote the Hong Kong protests "under the pretext of so-called academic freedom and freedom of expression".

The situation between Hong Kong and China has been misrepresented, the press release states.

Putting China's side of the story forward, the press release explains China is allowing the local governments in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan to cooperate with the mainland on extraditing criminal suspects and fugitives in individual cases through a special arrangement.

This would close an existing legal loophole to jointly combat crime and uphold law and justice in the semi-autonomous territories.

"Unfortunately, some ill-intentioned individuals and media outlets [are spreading] exaggerated or false views, thus causing panic among the public, and obstructing the discussion of the amendments in the HKSAR Legislative Council.

The release also claimed that certain organisations had engaged in "smearing attacks on the Chinese government and the Hong Kong SAR government" by failing to fight against the wide-spread "bias" and "anti-China sentiment" spreading throughout New Zealand.

It is unclear whether the message specifically targeted the university or was intended for New Zealand media organisations.

The clash is seen by many news outlets as a symptom of a far wider concern.

They say the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) government has reasserted controls over the Chinese diaspora, including the consolidation of Xi's leadership and spread of his ideology, Xi Jinping Thought.

Religious affiliation of any sort not sanctioned by Beijing is forbidden.

In 2017 Xi said the 60 million-plus Chinese diaspora must serve the CCP's political and economic agenda.

New Zealand has around 200,000 citizens and permanent residents who may be specifically targeted in this respect.

Source

• Craccum
• The Washington Post
• Noted
• Image: NewsHub