Last year, whānau, hapū, iwi, and our urban Māori and Whānau Ora organisations demonstrated exemplary leadership and stepped up to provide the Māori response as the Crown had nothing in place and simply could not reach the places we could. It becomes clearer every day, especially given there is still no public body response plan from the Crown, that this will remain the case. We, sadly, cannot rely on the system in place at a national level. The Government continues to systemically exclude Māori from the pandemic decision-making and coordination. We are being treated like mushrooms and kept in the dark and fed bull tiko. We do not accept that there is one source of truth. That type of kōrero is dangerous. It is an approach that is having the opposite effect of what's intended. It is eroding public trust, especially in Māori communities, in the Government's response. This is evident in the low vaccination uptake among Māori under the age of 65. Our people need to be at the table. We need access to real-time information, we need constant communication, and we need to be trusted as the community leaders that we are. 