{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.016975308641975308, 'fraction_numerical': 0.0015432098765432098, 'mean_word_length': 5.09717868338558, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Voices forgotten or a future of inclusion and equity: An Aotearoa New Zealand perspective on better publication of Indigenous mental health research

This whakataukī (Māori proverb) reminds us that to achieve improvements in mental health, we should strive for equity for all of our communities. It will resonate with many working in mental health on both sides of the Tasman. New Zealand and Australian psychiatrists share a friendly rivalry over the patrimony of the pavlova and strong collegial relationships professionally. We belong to the same binational College, we subscribe to this journal and we hold many of the same values. However, we have also been shaped by different sociocultural winds and currents, which can sometimes lead to misunderstanding. As New Zealand psychiatrists active in Australasian governance and research, we have found that despite openness to hear more from our Australian colleagues, New Zealand’s legacy of colonisation is not well understood nor are the legal obligations to uphold our founding document, Te Tiriti o Waitangi. In this editorial, we seek to briefly explain how breaches of this treaty and colonisation have led to inequities for Māori, which are especially pronounced in mental health. We explain how over recent decades there has been an increased focus on righting past wrongs and better upholding the rights of Māori, an ethnicity with which 17% of New Zealanders identify.1 Currently, this is evident in sweeping reforms to the health system and health research funding streams. We explore what this means for the joint enterprise of ‘Australian and New Zealand psychiatry’. Lastly, we consider the role of journals such as this one in giving voice to research that is responsive to Indigenous mental health and wellbeing. We find that historically this journal has not included the diverse perspectives of Indigenous researchers and our wero (challenge) is to do better in the future.